BreAnne was 15 years old when she first started to be bothered by tremors. She was working on algebra homework with a friend and her friend helped her when she had trouble charting on a graph. After many visits to various doctors, she was finally diagnosed with essential tremor (ET).

She said having ET gave her a new perspective on life because she realized just how much people take for granted. It helped her appreciate “simple” actions and to work hard to overcome difficult tasks. Now she has accepted that ET is a part of who she is.

BreAnne plays piano and loves art and her ET presents challenges with both. But she still perseveres.

“If I had not been diagnosed with tremors, I would not have learned to work so hard and never give up, or learned to ask for help and to keep moving on when something hard happens in life,” she said.

BreAnne is studying art at Southwest Baptist University, Bolivar, MO. She has given back to her community through a number of service activities. She has packed food backpacks for those in need, collected shoes for the Sole Hope Shoe Collection program, assembled food baskets for the homeless, and served at the local food kitchen.