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Longtime Hyperhidrosis Writer Learned Empathy from Hyperhidrosis Patients
During the several years that freelancer Angela Ballard, 34, wrote about hyperhidrosis for the International Hyperhidrosis Society, she developed a heightened sense of empathy, not only about the medical condition that causes so many of us to suffer, but about people in general.
"I recall one of our physicians treating a woman with palmar hyperhidrosis. Her hands got so wet she dropped her baby. Any mother can't help but feel heartbreak when she hears that story," says Ballard, mother of her own 2 ½-year-old daughter.
"Then there are all the stories about kids who can't raise their hands in school because their armpits are too sweaty. Or they can't do artwork because their hands are too sweaty. All these stories affected me, made me more empathetic. They taught me not to judge others. They taught me when you meet somebody you don't quite get, you don't know why. You don't always know somebody's back stories."
Ballard, who helped launch the IHHS SweatHelp.org Web site and this newsletter, quickly gained kudos at IHHS for her easy way of interviewing hyperhidrosis patients and dermatologists alike. She became adept at translating complicated medical news into helpful language we could use and is responsible for "Teen Sweat 101", an educational brochure that has validated and helped many teenaged hyperhidrosis sufferers while winning 32 industry awards for communication, education and design.
Those of us who know Ballard personally know she also has her own back story reflecting a yearning for the full and authentic life – a yearning that hyperhidrosis sufferers know something about.
For example, despite graduating from college with a degree in history, something kept nagging at Ballard about her love of writing. She listened and became a writer.
As she wrote, first for a business magazine and then for an advertising agency specializing in health, she felt another kind of nagging. She listened again. And at the age of 26, she and her husband-to-be left the comforts of home for 18 weeks so they could hike the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada.
"I was at a point in my life when I needed to take a risk, have an adventure, do something that wasn't part of the charted course," says Ballard, who played lacrosse and field hockey in college and was always in great shape. "There were people in my family who were not pleased with me quitting my job to go hiking. But I had to break away from what was expected."
Ballard collected endless tiny lessons along the trail: Yes, a human being can survive five days of rain. Yes, you have to eat more – a lot more – when you're hiking 15 to 30 miles a day. Yes, a relationship can survive such intensity. She met people who live to hike, who work ski patrol or waitressing jobs in the winter so they can hike in the warmer months.
At the end of her experience, Ballard could relate to hyperhidrosis sufferers whose lives open up when they discover treatment and support.
"I would not be who I am or where I am now if it weren't for that hike. I'm an adult now. I can do what I want. I am much stronger physically, but also emotionally. I have a lot of confidence that I can face challenges and hardships."
Ballard and her husband, now an emergency room physician, returned to the real world after their hike, ultimately settling in Fairfax, California, just north of San Francisco. But first they wrote a book – one chapter in his voice, the next in hers -- about their experience, entitled A Blistered Kind of Love, One Couple's Trial by Trail (Mountaineer Books, 2003.) The witty, insightful and candid "physical endurance memoir" won a National Outdoor Book award and recognition from the Pacific Northwest Independent Booksellers Association.
During this time, Ballard also began writing extensively for IHHS.
"She is a true hero for us here at the Hyperhidrosis Society," says Executive Director Lisa Pieretti. "Her attitude, her work ethic and compassion – even her dedication to mothering and to living a full and rich life – all served to make her a valuable contributor here."
Today, Ballard and her husband still hike. Each year, on their daughter's birthday, May 18, little Hayley straps on a tiny backpack and hikes a mile or two into the Pacific Crest Trail with her parents. Ballard continues to write and edit the Pacific Crest Trail Association's bi-monthly magazine. Unfortunately for us, as of this spring, she no longer writes for the IHHS, an important contribution she nonetheless had to forego to pursue her new goal of being a
nurse.
"One of the things people have told me throughout my writing about hyperhidrosis and other health issues is that I can take a complicated health condition or an emotional condition and talk about it on a personal level. I think those skills are going to carry over. I hope they will. I hope that means someday, if and when I'm a nurse, I'll be able to communicate with patients that much better because I've been able to write about it."
We hope so, too. Actually, we know so, Angela, as we thank you for your years of service and dedication to hyperhidrosis sufferers everywhere. Please accept a lifetime pass to our IHHS-sponsored educational sessions for health-care providers, along with our heartiest wishes for a happy Mother's Day. We will miss you.
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Find a doctor who treats excessive sweating. |
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