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Fighting Lupus, POTS, and a Tumor Diagnosis: How One Young Woman Found Faith, Strength, and the Courage to Graduate Against All Odds

Fighting Lupus, POTS, and a Tumor Diagnosis: How One Young Woman Found Faith, Strength, and the Courage to Graduate Against All Odds

People like to say life changes in a moment, but Courtney Turner knows it in her bones. She was a small-town southern girl who loved sports, church, and her sisters. There was a “before” version of herself, when migraines were rare and dance practice was routine, and there was an “after” version, the one who fought every day to keep her body from shutting down. When the first doctors told her nothing was wrong, that her pain was “in her head,” Courtney could have given up. Instead, she learned that sometimes the people in white coats don’t have all the answers. The migraines, the seizures, the exhaustion—they weren’t going away. Her world became hospitals, blood tests, and the uncertainty that makes every day feel like a battle.

Courtesy of Courtney Turner

By 2015, things had spiraled into words she had never heard before: Lupus. Dysautonomia. POTS. Each diagnosis felt like a riddle with no solution, only management. Her body would faint, her heart would race, her stomach would revolt against food. The doctors told her graduating wasn’t possible, that she wouldn’t make it through high school, much less college. Imagine being seventeen and hearing that the future you dreamed about was already canceled.

But Courtney was stubborn in the best kind of way. She wanted to walk across that stage in cap and gown; no illness would rob her of that. She spent more time on homebound schooling than in classrooms, yet she still showed up for graduation. That night, under the hot lights and with her family watching, she felt a mix of triumph and grief. Yes, she made it, but she also knew what she had lost—pep rallies, senior trips, late-night study groups with friends. Still, she refused to quit.

Courtesy of Courtney Turner

When her body broke down even more, when she was losing weight and unable to eat, Courtney faced the terrifying reality of feeding tubes. She was only twenty, and yet she knew what it meant to feel like her body was shutting down completely. But with every hospital visit, every setback, she found new strength. Not the kind you measure in muscle, but the kind that keeps your spirit alive when everything else is crumbling.

Then came the tumor discovery. An MRI meant for her spine revealed something tangled in her thyroid. The word tumor has a way of silencing everything else in your mind. For a week, she lived in limbo, waiting to learn whether cancer had just joined her long list of chronic diagnoses. She prayed, cried, and leaned on faith like some people lean on a crutch. When the biopsy returned benign, relief washed over her, but so did a strange clarity. She realized how fragile life could be, and how much strength it takes to keep walking forward.

Courtesy of Courtney Turner

Through all of this, she wasn’t alone. Her parents never left her side, and her boyfriend Alex became a steady presence when she needed someone to hold onto hope for her. He prayed when she couldn’t, reminded her God was still good, and made her laugh in hospital rooms that felt too heavy to breathe in.

College seemed impossible, but Courtney proved “impossible” doesn’t have to mean “never.” Online classes became her pathway, a way to chase the degree everyone said she would never get. Each assignment was more than homework; it was a statement: her illness would not define her story. When Courtney talks about her journey today, she doesn’t pretend it was easy. It was ugly and painful and terrifying. There were nights she wondered why God kept stacking battles on her shoulders. But she also says her faith grew in those cracks, like wildflowers pushing through broken pavement.

Courtesy of Courtney Turner

Her story is not just about surviving chronic diagnoses, tumor discovery, or even the fight to graduate when her body was shutting down. It’s about a young woman clothed in strength and faith, proving that sometimes the bravest victories are not flashy—they are quiet, determined steps forward when the world keeps telling you to stop.