LEWISBURG, WV (WOAY) – Miss West Virginia International 2020 and former basketball player is bringing awareness to a rare disease. The condition has only been recently given a name, and kids who have it are finally getting a proper diagnosis and the treatment they need.
For over a year, Autumn Hill has struggled with POTS or Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia syndrome.
“During my senior year of soccer season, I went unresponsive driving home from a soccer game,” said Autumn Hill, who suffers from POTS syndrome.
POTS is a complicated condition to diagnose and varies from person to person. Still, all POTS patients have two things in common—a rapid heart rate and dizziness with standing up from a resting position.
“It is a condition when your heart stays in tachycardia, so it mostly affects you when you’re standing or walking or with heat, so when my heart is pumping, sometimes the blood is not circulating, so it causes you to pass out or have a seizure,” said Hill.
POTS prevented Autumn from participating in college basketball. Autumn was accepted to 6 colleges.
“I suffered from depression because I lost everything. I lost college, basketball, friends; my boyfriend broke up with me. I wanted to give up, but with hope from my family, god, and my doctors, I didn’t,” said Hill.
Now Autumn is using her platform to help others her age with rare conditions.
“We made a Tiktok video, and I got over 8 million views, and I had over 300 young women message me who are battling with the same disease that I am, and they ask me for questions, support, and my goal is to help one person, and now I’m helping around 400,” said Hill.
You can connect with Autumn Hill on her Social Media accounts.
Instagram: Autumn.brookee
Tiktok: Tooturnthill
