The dictionary definition of “maroon” means “to abandon or isolate with little hope of ready rescue or escape.” My piece illustrates this concept, with me as a sick three year old, marooned on the island of my couch. Episodic Ataxia has stranded me countless times over the years, striking unpredictably and leaving me stuck and helpless. My parents have doggedly sought answers regarding my rare and poorly-understood inherited neurological condition, but I have never gone more than a few months without once again becoming a castaway on my solitary sickbed. Episodic Ataxia makes it difficult for me to seize life with confidence, because I never know when it might attack. Marooned is my attempt to express the hopelessness I feel when I am sick, dizzy and alone, feeling abandoned by a medical establishment that has more important things to worry about than an illness that affects only a handful of us. It also expresses the sense of isolation I feel as an Asian adoptee with no knowledge of my birth family, cast adrift in America with no way of establishing a link to a genetic history that could provide me with insights into my condition. Birth Year: 2004