Meet SGS

Sick Girl Speaks has cystic fibrosis and is the longest living second-double lung transplant patient on planet Earth (as far as we know). In April of 2020, Sick Girl Speaks went into acute kidney failure and she is currently on dialysis awaiting a donor kidney. 

When she's not talking with her Friends, Sick Girl Speaks is a nationally recognized public speaker and Vice President for Experience Excellence at The Beryl Institute. (For all things professional, you can find her at www.theberylinstitute.org) Sick Girl Speaks has served as a patient advocate at Duke Hospital working primarily in the area of Oncology. She also worked as the Program Coordinator for Duke Medicine’s Patient Advisory Expansion Program. After leaving Duke, Sick Girl Speaks became a Patient and Family Engagement Specialist at the North Carolina Hospital Association focusing on advancing the role of the Patient and Family Advisor (PFA) and Experience Based Co-Design. Since 2017, she has been a proud member of The Beryl Institute Team working to improve patient experience and elevate the human experience in healthcare.

Today, at the age of 48, Sick Girl Speaks has found love and a career that reaches beyond what she ever imagined for herself. Complicating things, however, are the challenges her physical body presents and her continued stinky thoughts about herself, love and career. Like anyone else, there are days when she is successful at being "bigger than her body" and others...well, that's what naps and friends are for.