MEDINA, Ohio — 300 million people worldwide live with different rare diseases. Yet the experience can often feel isolating. 

• 5 percent of the population lives with a rare disease
• A 26-year-old Ohio woman lives with 6 different rare diseases
• Many Ohio universities and hospitals have ongoing research projects to study and treat the conditions

26-year-old Brittney Geerken didn’t know she was sick until she was 20 and in college.

“All of a sudden, I started getting really sick, like I couldn't keep any food in my system and I was throwing up constantly. I lost 30 pounds in a month. And so, we went to the doctor and he's like, how long have you known you had intestinal malrotation? And we said well, we think like you're wrong. My mom thought that he was in the wrong room,” said Geerken. 

Intestinal malrotation is extremely rare for adults and resulted in Geerken’s first major surgery— rearranging her organs and removing large amounts of scar tissue.

“In 99 percent of cases it's caught and diagnosed within the first year of life. I was diagnosed when I was 20. And so, all the doctors and surgeons are kind of like, ‘umm, we don't really know what to do,’” Geerken said.

Uncertainty is a response she's gotten often.

Today, Geerken lives with six different diseases, many of which are rare —Like POTS, gastroparesis, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which doctors believe is causing the other conditions.

“When I first found out I was sick, you don't think that it's going to be forever, you just think, okay, these medications or surgeries or whatever and they'll fix you,” said Geerken. 

Geerken has had more than 20 surgeries in the last six years, one of which was to remove a fallopian tube. She also has endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome. Before she got married she and her now husband went to a fertility doctor.

“She said that there is a near zero percent chance that we would conceive naturally,” said Geerken.

She and her husband Nick started saving for IVF.  But two months after they were married, Brittney found out she was pregnant with Lilly.

“I just look at our baby and I'm just like, my body did that so it's not too bad, and grew another human who is perfect in every way,” Geerken said.

Because there are days she can’t get out of bed or has to spend hours at the hospital, Geerken’s mom Dana often helps with the baby.

“As a mom, it has gotten into my heart to see my child suffer and to not be able to fix it,” said Dana Jenkins. 

Jenkins says Geerken takes every challenge and every new diagnosis in stride.

“The strength that she has, I just can’t even convey to you, like she is the strongest person. She has gone through her journey for all of these years with a smile on her face,” Jenkins said.

Geerken encourages others to have that smile too — to live life with understanding and kindness.

“We all are going through something that nobody else knows about, whether it's an invisible illness or something else, like, just be nice to people because you really don't know what they're going through,” Geerken said.

Geerken says because rare diseases can leave people feeling alone or misunderstood, she shares her story through her blog.

“It's just kind of to help people that are just being newly diagnosed going through this realize that they're not alone, and that makes it worth it to share,” said Geerken.