The Gaucher Guide to Grace — Rivka Silver

Rivka Silver holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology from Bar-Ilan University and lives in Israel. She was diagnosed with Gaucher disease in 2020 at age 21. She’s married and recently became a mom to a baby boy. Through her column, Rivka wants to be open about the joys and challenges of navigating motherhood with a genetic condition.

Columns

Living with a chronic illness that mostly exists in the background

Sometimes it feels strange to write publicly about Gaucher disease because, most days, I don’t feel particularly sick. That’s not something people usually expect to hear from someone with a rare disease. There’s often an assumption that chronic illness has to feel constant and consuming, that it should always…

Columns

Motherhood allows no time for a break, even with Gaucher

There are no vacation days when you’re a mom. If infusions once meant chilling on the couch, taking a nap, or watching my favorite TV show, today they look quite different for me. My baby, for instance, is almost 9 months old, and while we try to explain that…

Columns

My unexpected diagnosis with Gaucher disease type 1

When most people imagine being diagnosed with a disease, they picture a cold, sterile doctor’s office and a somber physician delivering bad news. But my story didn’t start like that. I was a healthy kid with no red flags, no strange symptoms, and no reason to think I might have…


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