I was born with hip dysplasia, but for most of my life, I didn’t even have the language to explain what I was feeling. What I did know was the pain – Silent, stubborn, and always there.

As a child I learned to endure, I adjusted how I walked. I smiled through the discomfort. I kept up appearances even when every step felt like fire. I learned to live in a world that did not see my pain and I became a master at hiding it. Doctors did not know. I did not know. All I had was a growing ache and an unshakeable sense that something wasn’t right.

But how do you fight what you can’t name? In 2021, I had my first total hip replacement. I thought it would be the end of my suffering; a new beginning, but healing wasn’t a straight line. Months later I suffered a dislocation. A revision surgery followed. Recovery was long. And even now, I live with a limp, and I rely on a walking stick. I wake up with pain and go to bed with it too. Physiotherapy is now part of my daily routine.

And still—I rise. Not because the journey got easier, but because I found something deeper than just healing: PURPOSE.

I founded TOHSAF not out of ambition, but out of need – mine, and that of so many others living silently with hip dysplasia. I know what it means to feel invisible. To spend years being misdiagnosed. To feel like no one understands and I never want anyone to go through that alone again.