OCD has tried to kill me for all 30 years of my life. 12 suicide attempts starting at 13 years old. A college dropout with a 1.83 GPA, housebound, and completely dysfunctional by 20. Being relieved by my metastatic cancer diagnosis at 22... because OCD convinced me that I deserved it; that it would finally end my suffering. OCD took everything and left me with no hope, no purpose, no reason to live. And after fighting for my life every single day, I made a decision: if I was going to keep living, I was going to spend that life figuring out why this was happening in my brain. So I clawed my way out, went back to school, became a neuroscientist to study the exact disorder that still tries to kill me every day. Today, I’m a PhD candidate researching leading the FIRST known human OCD protein-level studies – to uncover what is physically different inside the brains of people with OCD! 🧠 Here’s the problem that keeps me up at night: OCD debilitates millions and carries a TENFOLD increased suicide risk... yet it receives roughly 6 cents on the DOLLAR for research compared to other debilitating conditions that are just as or less common 👉🏾 because OCD is SO misunderstood and trivialized. And because of this MASSIVE funding gap 👉🏾 we still know almost NOTHING about the molecular biology of this illness. That is exactly why treatments fail so many people – AND exactly the gap my work is trying to close! 🧬 This is THE most important post I’ve ever shared — because my research is now on @ResearchHub, where this work is made possible entirely through crowdfunding. Which means — for the first time, YOU can DIRECTLY contribute to my research & make this work possible! To the OCD community: I’m doing this for us, and I’m asking you to rally around this research and bring it to life with me. If you believe people with OCD deserve scientific discoveries and effective treatments, YOUR support makes this happen. Every dollar donated and every share of this post gets us closer to the answers we deserve! 🔗 Read all about my research study and how you can contribute on @ResearchHub 👉🏾 researchhub.com/proposal/325… #ocd #mentalhealth #ocdawareness #intrusivethoughts #obsessivecompulsivedisorder #neuroscience #psychiatry #livedexperience