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Season 7 Episode 957

Unstoppable: Thriving with Graves' Disease S1E25

In early 2016, at age 55, Kathi McCarty led a very fulfilling and busy life in the Foothills west of Denver, Colorado, as a single Mom of 3 kiddos, and VP/Manager of a large Denver-area Bank branch. Then, her life changed nearly overnight. It began with dry, gritty eyes, as if she had endured a sandstorm. Not long after that Kathi woke up with double vision. A diagnosis of Graves Disease, TEDs (Thyroid Eye Disease), and four eye surgeries later, Kathi learned to adjust to her disability, and others’ reactions to it. “People can’t actually see your wound,” she says. She learned from personal experience there is a huge stigma with that, and she learned to navigate the prejudice that comes with having an illness that affects her sight with permanent double vision. Ultimately, gratitude is her attitude. She learned among many other lessons, when you’re in a life-altering situation, you can take one of two paths – curl up, or catapult into the next chapter.

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