'I control psoriasis. Psoriasis doesn't control me.'

By Steve Bieler

Brian Lehrschall of Raleigh, North Carolina, was diagnosed with psoriasis when he was 13 and with psoriatic arthritis when he was 15. That double whammy might have stopped some people, but not Lehrschall, who is now 33 and an enthusiastic Community Ambassador for the National Psoriasis Foundation.
“Why do I get up in the morning? To help people,” Lehrschall said. “I’d rather do that than anything. I have more empathy because of having psoriasis.”
Lehrschall knows how far public awareness of psoriatic disease has come since he was a teenager – and how far it still has to go. When he was in high school, it wasn’t just the other kids who made him feel like an outsider – it was his teachers, too. They kicked him out of class and exiled him to the nurse’s office. They thought his flaking and bleeding skin made him, in Lehrschall’s recollection, “a health hazard.”
Fortunately, Lehrschall has a large, extended and “100 percent supportive” family. When he told his parents that his teachers were discriminating against him, they swung into action. They soon had dermatologists from Duke University visiting the school, explaining psoriasis. Lehrschall’s teachers didn’t become empathetic after this episode, but at least they let him back into class.
“This is one of the reasons I volunteer with NPF,” he explained. “I don’t want kids to go through what I did.”
Lehrschall has been active in psoriasis support groups going back to his listing in the November/December 2007 issue of Psoriasis Advance. He’s logged hundreds of hours helping other people with psoriatic disease. He also works to improve the public’s understanding of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, including lobbying elected officials on the state and federal levels. For his good work, Lehrschall was our 2009 Volunteer of the Year.
In addition to his NPF activities, Lehrschall leads Boy Scout troops (“I spend more time in the woods than I do in my own house!”) and mentors other Boy Scout volunteers.
“I control psoriasis. Psoriasis doesn’t control me. If I have a bad day I know enough to stay down, hang it up, and not push myself. If you push yourself, you’ll be down for a week instead of a couple of days.” He laughed and said, “I just wish I’d listen to my own advice more often!”

https://www.psoriasis.org/advance/i-control-psoriasis-psoriasis-doesnt-control-me