journey with many in hopes of inspiring other artists . Since the airing of the show , things have changed yet again for Allison . She has crossed into new territory , from being somewhat unknown to now being sought out .
I asked Allison to share her best memory of appearing as Ashaeda Darss Edar since then . “ Probably the year we went to Midwest FurFest in Chicago . The episode of Lisa Ling that featured me and my art had just aired on CNN and while walking around in costume , this lady came running up , completely blown away and in tears that I was there . She told me that she also had EDS and was losing her ability to function and walk . She thought she could never be a fursuit maker or artist like she ’ d always wanted because of it . She melted in my arms crying as we hugged . She was so happy that ( somehow ) I had given her so much hope for life . I had no idea how to respond and just kind of blurted out ‘ Thank you ,’ while trying not to cry myself . That has always stuck with me .”
With all of her physical and mental challenges , I had to know what keeps her going . Two years ago Allison confessed she would have said “ survival .” She now admits what keeps her forging ahead is , “ At this point , probably just the stubbornness to prove to myself that I can keep moving forward .”
For Allison , moving forward means gaining stability as the last five years of her life have been anything but . “ We moved to a new state and survived two car accidents that took months
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