{"alias":"blogEntry","byline":"As told to Jade Slaughter ","standfirst":"Bella Roberts is a 16 year old Explorer Scout, who has Lymphedema. Though if you think that might slow her down, you haven\u2019t met Bella.","content":{"layouts":[{"type":"singleColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The condition I have is genetic primary lymphedema. It means a) I was born with it, and b) it\u2019s all over my body. Essentially, I don\u2019t have a lymphatic system; in a \u2018normal\u2019 body, fluid is transported from the blood back into the body, but I don\u2019t have that. All the extra fluid doesn\u2019t go anywhere. It just floats. My hands, face and legs are all swollen, and a lot of people interpret that as fat. People can say what they want. At the end of the day, it\u2019s my body and I know what I have, so that\u2019s fine.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOver the years, I\u2019ve built up quite a hard shell. I just say \u2018bye\u2019 to the haters and live on. I go to sixth form like any normal teenager would. I\u2019m studying triple media BTEC, and I want to be a film director when I grow up. I have quite a bubbly attitude towards most things. My mum just says get on with it, do your best, that\u2019s all you can do.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EUsually my siblings accompany me when I go places, but going to Scouts for the first time felt like something I wanted to do myself. I was really nervous, but throughout the night I became so relaxed. Everyone was nice and the leaders were helpful and kind. They explained everything. I felt so welcomed. At the end of the night, I thought: \u2018I\u2019m going to stick with this. This is going to be really fun.\u2019\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"gridType":"gridImageBlock","gtmId":"gtmId","gtmClass":"gtmClass","image":"/media/2022/bella.jpg","width":1200,"height":1000,"altText":"Bella Roberts","caption":"","link":null},{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003EWe went on a winter camp recently. I\u2019ve never camped before in my life and I\u2019m no Bear Grylls. I lasted one night. It was the coldest night ever! I was the only girl. The guys were fine because they got to stay in a tent together and share body warmth, but I was in a one-person tent by myself. I stayed for the second day, but that night, I was like \u2013 \u2018no\u2019. It was really fun, but if I tried to camp again, it would be in the summer.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThere are a lot of things where if I can\u2019t do it, I\u2019ll just say so. But at that camp, in the night, there was no going back. I had to just get stuck in. There was an obstacle course too \u2013 I couldn\u2019t physically do all of it but I finished my attempt and felt like I\u2019d achieved something. That\u2019s the thing with Scouts and Explorers; it doesn\u2019t matter if you don\u2019t do something perfectly, you just have to try it out. And that\u2019s what I love. They don\u2019t force me to do things, but they encourage me to try. And if I manage it, it makes me feel really good.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI think my greatest Scouts achievement is being myself. I know that sounds cringey, but I\u2019ve always had a hard time with people accepting me for who I am. In school, I know how people look at me; they think I\u2019m this weak person. But at Scouts, they\u2019ll throw a dodgeball at me just as hard as the next person. I think it\u2019s cool that they treat me the same as any other teenager.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI recently made a speech at Westminster Abbey in front of 2,000 people, which, to me, didn\u2019t seem like a lot because I was so nervous I couldn\u2019t look at anyone at all. I wanted to do it to tell my story, to represent my community and the Scouts community. To show that we are inclusive for everyone. I got so many emails afterwards, I was like, \u2018Oh my gosh, I\u2019m famous!\u2019 Living with lymphedema is quite hard, but you have to not let it get to you, and just do everything that you want to do.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHopefully one day you\u2019ll see me and I\u2019ll be at the Oscars, walking down that red carpet. I know it\u2019s the most clich\u00E9d thing you could ever say, but you\u2019ve got to follow your dreams. Regardless of any condition you have, whether it\u2019s dyslexia or ADHD or Down\u2019s syndrome \u2013 I feel like that shouldn\u2019t stop you doing what you want to do.\u2019\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null}]},"searchDescription":null,"pageType":null,"location":null,"versionDate":"09 May 2019","reviewDate":null,"furtherReading":[{"caption":"","title":"Find out more about Lymphoedema with the NHS","url":"https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/lymphoedema/","newWindow":true}],"relatedLinks":[],"id":40237,"nodeName":"Bella\u0027s story","title":"Bella\u0027s story","type":"blogEntry","image":{"url":"/media/2022/bella.jpg?width=800\u0026height=450\u0026v=1d9becd2c91dc30","caption":"Bella .jpg","type":"jpg","size":101423,"width":1200,"height":1000,"altText":"Bella Roberts"},"assets":null,"headerOptions":{"headerTitle":"Bella\u0027s story","headerSubTitle":null,"headerCta":null,"headerCtaText":null,"headerCtaLink":null,"headerBackgroundColour":null,"showSEOImage":false,"headerBackgroundImage":null,"quickLinks":null},"subHeader":"Bella Roberts is a 16 year old Explorer Scout with the condition lymphedema. If you think that might slow her down, you haven\u2019t met Bella.","browserTitle":null,"silktide":"eyJjbXMiOiJVbWJyYWNvIiwiZWRpdG9yVXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9wcm9kLWNtcy5zY291dHMub3JnLnVrLy91bWJyYWNvIy9jb250ZW50L2NvbnRlbnQvZWRpdC80MDIzNyJ9","canonicalUrl":"https://www.scouts.org.uk/news/2019/may/bellas-story/"}