Hannah Guardado, longtime part of #MollysKids, headed to college

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Lincolnton’s Hannah Guardado has exciting news: This longtime one of our #MollysKids, who lives with POTS and Dysautonomia, got into the radiology program at Catawba Valley Community College and will start this fall.

We started following her when she was a teenager. She’s now 24.

“It has been almost 12 years -- maybe 13? -- I’ve been living with Dysautonomia (I honestly can’t keep up at this point),” she wrote. “I never thought I would get here, but it’s possible. Thank you for always spreading awareness. I hope my story through it can inspire others.”

We say, “the Good, the Bad, and the Always Real.” This update on Hannah is added extra good, knowing what she has gone through in life.

We’ve chronicled her ups-and-downs which begin with understanding the diagnosis of POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), something her mom, Crystal Green, spent much of her life explaining.

“My daughter’s heart rate would shoot through the roof when she went from sitting to standing, which we all do dozens of times a day,” Crystal said in the first #MollysKids post in January of 2017. “Within the first ten minutes of standing, Hannah’s heart rate increases by 30-beats a minute and that causes her to faint. So from the outside, my daughter looks completely healthy, but her insides are a wreck. POTS took life from Hannah. She can’t go anywhere by herself or walk for long distances for fear she’ll fall and be knocked out.”

Back then, Hannah would pass out two or three times a day, fall on stairs, and constantly be bruised. (You can read that 2017 post here) Despite the obstacles – and there were many – Hannah graduated from Lincolnton High School.

Then, in 2020, she emailed a simple and remarkable update: “Doctors in Virginia,” she said, “saved my body.”

“They gave me three beta blockers that worked wonders,” Hannah wrote. “The beta blockers regulate my heart rate and blood pressure. I don’t pass out anymore, my mentality is much better, and I can cope better with life and chronic illness. I am even able to slowly start to exercise!”

At the time, (read that 2020 post here), Hannah said she was hopeful to go to college one day, become a radiologist, and treat her own patients with kindness.

“I want to show people who are sick that they are cared about,” she said. “I want to work with children, teens, and even adults fighting this invisible illness and help them create support systems.”

Which leads us to now... CONGRATS, HANNAH!

It’s excellent news and a wonderful update. Hope you’re hugging yourself on getting accepted into the program and doing exactly what you said you’d hoped to someday do.

As she always has, Hannah says she is still happy to talk with anyone about POTS. There are more people in the area who live with this and are affected than you’d probably think, and Hannah is happy to connect with any of you.

If interested, comment below. She can look for your questions and respond, or, if you want to send her a personal note, email me with the subject line “Hannah.” I’ll forward your note to her; she can take it from there. (My email is molly.grantham@wbtv.com)

Great update, Hannah. Thank you for sharing.

#MollysKids