Despite serious diagnoses, young woman carries on crochet business

ORLANDO, Fla. — There are times the life we imagine for ourselves is at odds with our reality.

But, Mei Ashton isn’t letting her reality, dealing with various health concerns — diagnoses of four rare illnesses — dim her light nor crush her endless optimism.

“I think you should also say what good is happening to you than what bad, then you can also say, ‘This could be worse,’” she said.

Several years ago, around the age of 15, the teenager suddenly found herself in constant great pain. When she wasn’t performing, singing on stage at places like the Dr. Phillips Center, or participating in an array of after-school activities, Ashton was enduring testing and doctors’ appointments. 

Eventually, she was diagnosed with gastroparesis, a debilitating condition characterized by delayed emptying of the stomach and pain digesting food.

“What was the hardest was watching her go through it and not be able to give her any answers,” said her mother, Jeannie Lee. “She suffered a lot, not being able to sleep, not being able to eat.”

It launched Ashton, as well as her mother, on a journey of researching best practices, nutritional advice and non-surgical options — as Ashton worried about the potential risks associated with surgery. She tried holistic medicine, acupuncture, anything to relieve the pain.

“The second I was diagnosed, I began researching what I can consume,” Ashton said. “I consume about 90 percent liquid, maybe 10 percent food. If I lose too much weight, I might risk having a feeding tube.”

Later, all the teenager’s concerns were amplified as she was diagnosed with three other rare conditions, revolving around her arteries, connective tissue and renal veins.

The situation was so dire that Ashton left school, opting to take online classes. Though she graduated early, she could not walk across the stage for her high school graduation.

But everything turned around as Ashton found her own path forward.

She began walking after meals to stimulate digestion, honed her diet with supplements and carried her blender with her everywhere she went. She got brave, toting along the blender to foreign countries as she proudly displayed her graduation cap with a favorite quote from the movie, Mama Mia: “Life is short, the world is wide. I wanna make some memories.”

Eventually, Ashton dropped from taking more than a dozen pills per day to zero.

And she found a new outlet for her creativity, leaning into a hobby she picked up during the pandemic, as a way to find comfort and community: crocheting.

“When I think of crochet, I think of relaxation, creativity. Really churns the gears in your head,” she said. 

Ashton started selling crocheted goods at various places, from an online Etsy store to her favorite boba shop owned by a family friend. 

She also designs patterns for crocheters around the world, with her mother explaining that more than 2,000 people in 65 countries have signed up for her daughter’s free patterns.

“It’s like a musician that writes notes and sells music sheets,” she said. “She channeled a lot of her frustration into something good….So decided to build something out of it.”

Locally, the teen curated a community of crocheters, teaching them her methods — for crafting and for getting through challenging times, be it teenage years or serious health concerns.

It’s a gift, her mother described, that her daughter is capable of persevering and staying positive, even in dire situations.

“She’s always been one to look on the bright side of things, never once seen herself as a victim. She has always wanted to one-up life,” Lee said. “She has grit that most people don’t have. It would be easier to have a feeding tube. And a lot of people don’t think she’s as sick as she is, because she makes it look so easy.”

“A lot of people don’t realize how much one may be suffering when they don’t see, so I think by also bringing the awareness of rare diseases, people who have them feel talked about, they feel seen,” Ashton explained.

The road has not been easy. Ashton is still, at times, overcome with the same insecurities many teenagers face—and then some due to her condition. She wonders aloud what it would be like to have a relationship, go on dates, and pines for the freedom of going out to restaurants or picking up fast food with her friends.

Yet, Ashton’s manifesting a life for herself that is not defined by her health conditions, leaning on life lessons her single mother taught her, as well as what she learned thus far about herself to propel her forward.

“If I keep thinking, I’m never going to get better, my stomach is going to get worse.… If I say, ‘I will get better, I will heal,’ I will find a way to be better,” she said. “I think I’ll always feel slightly insecure about the fact I am different than others and have rare diseases, but then I have to find that as a superpower. I’m able to cope with it all and figure out how to live my life with it.”