I have a 9-year-old son who was recently diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome. We are from Nairobi, Kenya. It took the earth to correctly diagnose this condition, as nobody in Kenya seems to know about it.

After seeing 13 doctors, doing a myriad of tests and being given several different diagnoses, we were forced to travel to the US for further diagnosis. On reaching the US Neurologist’s office, we were properly diagnosed within the first 5 minutes!

Our story is really one of the journey to discovering Tourette’s and managing an unknown condition in a country where there is limited support for ‘rare diseases’, as well as keeping the faith that we will all come out of this situation stronger and victorious over things that would otherwise cripple a family!

Editor’s Comment: Thank you so much for sharing this with us.  I think we in the ‘Western world’ probably take it for granted that we have access to doctors who recognise such conditions.  I wish you and your son the best of luck!  I have Tourette’s myself and know how hard it can be, but I like to think I turned out just fine in the end 🙂  Your son will, too!

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