Word of life: beyond the diagnosis

Some diagnoses change your life. Because they force you to relearn everything: your rhythm, your limits, your way of existing in the world.

In this resilient episode, SayaCare gives the floor to Asta Traoré (@ugc.by_asta), a creative entrepreneur, founder of a scarf brand, marketing coordinator, and woman living with narcolepsy, a chronic neurological condition that affects sleep and wakefulness.

Asta shares her journey with honesty: the confusion before diagnosis, the shock of the revelation, the prejudices and misunderstandings of those around her, and above all, the long and courageous rebuilding process that followed. She talks to us about what it means to be an ambitious, creative, and entrepreneurial woman when your body imposes rules that others cannot see.

Together, we explore the invisible challenges of chronic illness: the fatigue that words cannot describe, the constant adaptation, the need to negotiate with oneself every day. We also talk about how the identity of the African diaspora, this habit of “not complaining,” of “always moving forward,” can complicate the acceptance of a diagnosis.

But Asta is not just the story of an ordeal. It is the testimony of a woman who has chosen to build her life around her strengths, despite and with her condition.

Thank you to the Canadian Race Relations Foundation for its support, which made this initiative possible.

If you would like to access more health resources, visit : https://sayaspora.com/en/special-project/sayacare-2-2/