Uncovered: Finding Purpose Through Pain. A Chaquira Andrade Story

There is something powerful about looking back at the version of yourself who once hid from the world, suffered in silence and realizing you have become the person you once needed. Welcome back to Uncovered, the series where we get up close and personal with HS Warriors from all walks of life. This week's story looks back on a 15-year-old girl's journey from hiding bandages and wondering why they kept coming back to later becoming the advocate she needed all those years ago. But the journey wasn’t a direct path nor was it covered in roses. What once was a source of isolation, pain and depression became her purpose. Today she serves the HS community in every way she can by telling her story to policymakers, researchers, doctors, medical students and HS patients all over. Her story is a reminder that sometimes the parts of ourselves we once hid are the very parts that allow us to walk in our purpose and truths. Let’s meet my NY HS Sistaa, Your HS Bestie and Baddie Chaquira Andrade.

Finding Purpose Through Pain

I have lived with Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) for sixteen years now, but for the first ten years, I had no idea what was happening to my body. I was only 15 years old when I noticed painful bumps that I assumed would eventually go away. Instead, they became recurring abscesses that would swell, burst, drain, and return over and over again. As a teenager, I wasn't worried about school dances or what outfit I wanted to wear, I was worried about hiding bandages, masking the drainage, and wondering if people could smell me. The physical pain was unbearable, but the emotional pain of feeling ashamed and misunderstood hurt even more.

For years, I searched for answers. I was repeatedly misdiagnosed and treated as if I simply had recurring infections. I lost count of the emergency room visits where abscesses had to be drained just to give me temporary relief. I underwent multiple procedures, lived with constant pain, and began to believe that this was simply the life I was destined to live.

Everything changed on August 11, 2020.

After more than a decade of unanswered questions, I was finally diagnosed with Stage III Hidradenitis Suppurativa. While many people fear receiving a diagnosis, I felt something I hadn't experienced in years, relief. For the first time, I had a name for the disease that had controlled so much of my life. More importantly, I learned that I wasn't alone and that what I had been experiencing was real.

HS has impacted every part of my life. It has affected my mobility, my confidence, my relationships, and even simple daily tasks like getting dressed or sitting comfortably. There were years when I couldn't wear deodorant because the pain under my arms was so severe. I canceled plans, isolated myself, and often smiled through pain because I didn't think anyone would understand what living with HS truly felt like.

But somewhere along this journey, my pain found purpose. Instead of allowing HS to silence me, I decided to use my voice for the people who still felt invisible.

Today, I am proud to be an international HS patient advocate, speaker, mentor, support group leader, and board member. I've had the privilege of sharing my story with healthcare professionals, researchers, medical students, policymakers, and fellow patients across the country. I advocate because I know what it feels like to spend years searching for answers, and I never want another person to experience that same loneliness.

One of the accomplishments I am most proud of is creating HS Warriors, a community built on one simple belief: Every story matters. Every voice belongs. What began as my own search for connection has grown into a sisterhood where people living with HS can find support, understanding, and hope. Watching patients realize they are no longer alone has become one of the greatest privileges of my life.

While advocacy has been healing, so has finally finding a treatment that works for me. After years of surgeries, clinical trials, and trying different therapies, I am now on a biologic treatment that has helped bring my HS into remission. Although HS will always be a part of my story, it no longer controls every chapter of it.

If there is one thing I wish people understood about HS, it is that this is so much more than a skin disease. It is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects every aspect of a person's life, physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, and financially. Behind every visible wound is someone carrying invisible burdens that the world rarely sees.

I often think about the frightened 15-year-old girl who believed she had to suffer in silence. If I could speak to her today, I would tell her that one day those same scars would become symbols of resilience rather than shame. They would lead her to a community she never knew existed, introduce her to lifelong friendships, and give her a purpose greater than she ever imagined.

HS changed my life, but it did not take my future.

Instead, it gave me a mission: to make sure every person living with HS feels seen, heard, and valued. If my story helps even one person seek a diagnosis sooner, feel less alone, or believe that life after diagnosis can still be beautiful, then every challenge I have faced has been worth sharing.

                                                                                            Chaquira Andrade

YOUR TURN

What sticks out the most for me about  Chaquira’s story is the fact that while HS changed her life, she didn’t allow HS to take over her future. She decided to write her own story on her terms and show us all that there is light at the end of the tunnel if you just keep going. The very girl who once worried whether someone could smell her drainage now uses her voice to make a difference in her community. To know Chaquira is to know that she is one of the most kindhearted and loving people you will ever meet. She has never met a stranger. Especially an HS Warrior stranger. Chaquira thank you for trusting me with your story, thank you for being a friend. Thank you for turning your voice toward the warriors who are still searching for answers and reminding them that diagnosis, treatment, community, remission, hope and a full life can exist on the other side of some very difficult chapters.

And to the warrior reading this who may still be in their own season of hiding: Your story ain’t over. HS will change parts of your life, but you have HS, HS does not have you.

If you feel ready to share your own Hidradenitis Suppurativa journey, we’d be honored to hold space for your story next. Become a part of the Uncovered family.

If you are looking to keep up with Chaquira, she can be found on 

 

Sending Healing vibes your way. The EmpoweredHSWarrior