Welcome to this weeks Flow Feature! We hope that those of you who have been lucky enough to see The Great Gatsby have enjoyed it so far! Don’t forget to check out the Flows Book Club discussion to see what Flows thought of the wonderful book by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Before you do that however, have a read of this week’s Flow Feature on Portia Maree from George, South Africa!
Portia had always been a fan of Florence + The Machine, ever since a friend gave her a copy of ‘Lungs’. Though she saw its beauty at the time, it never truly reached her until the day that she needed it.
In December 2011, Portia became seriously ill with tonsillitis which then turned into a viral infection. For weeks she was unable to walk or even move. Finally, although she still looked sick, Portia got better. Towards the end of January 2012 Portia started to notice weird red dots on her skin. At first she ignored it, but then it started to get worse. When Portia spoke to her doctor about the dots he became worried and asked whether she bruised easily, which before now she never did.
The doctor came to the conclusion that her blood was no longer clotting, and the red spots were the result of blood that was seeping from her blood vessels. Portia was monitored for the weekend after which it got better. Thankfully she didn’t need a blood transfusion, and all seemed to be well…
Unfortunately for Portia, the blood tests came back revealing an irregularity. Portia went for further tests and it was discovered that she had Lupus, an auto-immune disease that causes the immune system to attack healthy cells. She was immediately put on medication. It wasn’t until a month or two later that it finally hit Portia, that this was not something that would get better. It was something that she would always have, and she would need to be constantly monitored and kept in check. Everything that Portia does needs to be okayed by her doctor before commencement. Thankfully the medication worked with little side effects or further complications.
Learning to live with Lupus was extremely overwhelming, and it became too much for Portia to cope with. Portia stopped feeling like herself and became extremely depressed. Portia works as a graphic designer at the local newspaper, and even her work began to suffer from the stress. Portia was no longer in the mood to do anything. She couldn’t so anything creative, and she was always in a terrible mod. Portia stopped going out, she just felt so low.
One day, Portia was sitting at her computer trying to make something creative. She wasn’t in the mood and struggled to come up with anything creative. She decided to open up her media player, and browsed through the artists. The player skipped to Florence + The Machine, and all of a sudden something stirred in Portia and she clicked off the shuffle option. ‘Lungs’ finished and ‘Ceremonials’began. It was the best thing that ever happened to Portia. ‘Ceremonials’ just made everything come alive.
Portia started listening to ‘Ceremonials’ at work, and suddenly the look of her ads improved. She even started painting too. Portia just felt so inspired. ‘Shake It Out’ is the one song that was able to break Portia out of every mood, taking over and making her feel lighter. ‘Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)’ made her feel braver than ever before. Florence just inspired Portia to be all that she can be and more. Now, every day Portia jst keeps following the heartlines on her hand…
Today Portia is a lot better. Portia now feels better about the Lupus, and she is now following her dreams. Portia is now doing photography and just finished her second short film. Everything seems better and easier now that she has Florence in her headphones.
Thank you Portia for sharing your inspiring story! We’re so glad that Florence + The Machine has been able to reach you and give you the courage and inspiration to continue fighting your battles and following your dreams! We wish you all the best with your health and creative outlets!
We hope you all enjoyed this week’s Flow Feature! Again, we are keen to get some more stories out of our wonderful fanbase to keep running our features every week, so please spread the word! Until next week…
Inspiring Flows Xxx
Portia had always been a fan of Florence + The Machine, ever since a friend gave her a copy of ‘Lungs’. Though she saw its beauty at the time, it never truly reached her until the day that she needed it.
In December 2011, Portia became seriously ill with tonsillitis which then turned into a viral infection. For weeks she was unable to walk or even move. Finally, although she still looked sick, Portia got better. Towards the end of January 2012 Portia started to notice weird red dots on her skin. At first she ignored it, but then it started to get worse. When Portia spoke to her doctor about the dots he became worried and asked whether she bruised easily, which before now she never did.
The doctor came to the conclusion that her blood was no longer clotting, and the red spots were the result of blood that was seeping from her blood vessels. Portia was monitored for the weekend after which it got better. Thankfully she didn’t need a blood transfusion, and all seemed to be well…
Unfortunately for Portia, the blood tests came back revealing an irregularity. Portia went for further tests and it was discovered that she had Lupus, an auto-immune disease that causes the immune system to attack healthy cells. She was immediately put on medication. It wasn’t until a month or two later that it finally hit Portia, that this was not something that would get better. It was something that she would always have, and she would need to be constantly monitored and kept in check. Everything that Portia does needs to be okayed by her doctor before commencement. Thankfully the medication worked with little side effects or further complications.
Learning to live with Lupus was extremely overwhelming, and it became too much for Portia to cope with. Portia stopped feeling like herself and became extremely depressed. Portia works as a graphic designer at the local newspaper, and even her work began to suffer from the stress. Portia was no longer in the mood to do anything. She couldn’t so anything creative, and she was always in a terrible mod. Portia stopped going out, she just felt so low.
One day, Portia was sitting at her computer trying to make something creative. She wasn’t in the mood and struggled to come up with anything creative. She decided to open up her media player, and browsed through the artists. The player skipped to Florence + The Machine, and all of a sudden something stirred in Portia and she clicked off the shuffle option. ‘Lungs’ finished and ‘Ceremonials’began. It was the best thing that ever happened to Portia. ‘Ceremonials’ just made everything come alive.
Portia started listening to ‘Ceremonials’ at work, and suddenly the look of her ads improved. She even started painting too. Portia just felt so inspired. ‘Shake It Out’ is the one song that was able to break Portia out of every mood, taking over and making her feel lighter. ‘Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)’ made her feel braver than ever before. Florence just inspired Portia to be all that she can be and more. Now, every day Portia jst keeps following the heartlines on her hand…
Today Portia is a lot better. Portia now feels better about the Lupus, and she is now following her dreams. Portia is now doing photography and just finished her second short film. Everything seems better and easier now that she has Florence in her headphones.
Thank you Portia for sharing your inspiring story! We’re so glad that Florence + The Machine has been able to reach you and give you the courage and inspiration to continue fighting your battles and following your dreams! We wish you all the best with your health and creative outlets!
We hope you all enjoyed this week’s Flow Feature! Again, we are keen to get some more stories out of our wonderful fanbase to keep running our features every week, so please spread the word! Until next week…
Inspiring Flows Xxx
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