Our KNX Hero of the Week, Leah Wetter, is a teenager from Tarzana who’s bringing invisible illnesses into the conversation and making a difference!
Leah Wetter
Leah, a junior at Sierra Canyon High School, was diagnosed this past year with Enhanced S-Cone Syndrome (ESCS), a rare and aggressive eye condition that severely affects her overall vision and even causes night blindness. There is no cure.
“I've done surgery. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked,” she told Heroes host Heather Jordan. “So now I have to go in every 4 weeks to get an injection in my eye to stabilize the condition until something new gets created for people.”
She calls it an invisible illness, and it can be isolating, even misunderstood. But Leah is using this life-changing diagnosis to help others.
She created a website called teenvisionsupport.com to help kids navigate conditions that can often feel invisible to others.
Leah Wetter
“Teenvisionsupport.com, in the name, it talks about vision support, but it's really for anyone that feels like they have an invisible disease like me,” she said. “It's there to provide support and just for people to find community and share their stories.”
She adds that she wants the website to be a place to learn about invisible illnesses.
Leah Wetter
“I really want people to learn about different diseases and everything, and not just specifically about mine, but just have the knowledge and what to do and how to help people and just be aware of people who have invisible illnesses,” she said. “My biggest thing is you never know what someone is going through, and I really want that to be the biggest takeaway someone ever gets from maybe meeting me or talking to me or visiting my website.”
She said being open about mental health is also super important.
Leah Wetter
“Everyone deals with their own thing,” she said. “Everyone has their own something, you know, that makes their life maybe hard or anything, and I think understanding that and maybe even finding community in that is really important.”
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