Ruby.

My name is Lauren Scholl.

I pushed through pain for 15 years before being diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis at the age of 28.

I was young when I started having skin irritation, skin rashes.

That's when I went to a dermatologist, and the dermatologist diagnosed me with what they

called at that point dermatitis.

So when I got to college, my skin did actually get worse, but I did also start having issues

where I couldn't do the things that I like to do as much anymore. So I started to feel like

stiffness in my legs. The bottoms of my feet would hurt when I'd go run. I was dancing in college.

And so there were times where I would just

have to take a break from practice because my body didn't feel good. For years, Lauren attributed her

pain to the intense training she endured as a professional dancer. But after having to give up her

career due to a difficult battle with Mercer, Lauren's symptoms

escalated.

Finally, it got to a point where I was doing laundry and, like, my husband's like,

you are limping to the laundry machine.

Like, there is no way that you are actually okay.

And I thought I broke my toe.

And we went into the podiatrist.

I got x-rays.

He's like, well, your toe's not broken.

But you're not even 30 years old and we're seeing like advanced arthritis patterns in your joints.

...