About This Episode

When Baylee Simmelink was nine years old, she was sick every night before bed — stomach cramps, vomiting, real pain. For a while, the adults around her thought she was just trying to avoid bedtime. Sound familiar?

For so many people living with chronic and invisible illness, getting someone to believe you is half the battle. In this episode, Karin sits down with Baylee — a college soccer player at Northwest Missouri State University and elementary education major — who was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 9.

Baylee shares what it was like growing up gluten-free before there were many options, navigating birthday parties and school snacks, and pushing through the intimidating world of college dining halls as a Division II athlete. Her mom also has celiac, which gave Baylee something most newly diagnosed people do not have: someone who truly gets it.

This one is for anyone who has ever cried in a restaurant because there was nothing on the menu they could eat. Anyone raising a child with celiac. Anyone who has had to advocate for themselves when they were terrified to do it.

About Baylee Simmelink

Baylee Simmelink is a Division II college soccer player at Northwest Missouri State University, studying elementary education. Diagnosed with celiac disease at age 9, Baylee grew up navigating a strict gluten-free lifestyle alongside her mother (who also has celiac) — from school snack drawers to college dining halls to competitive athletics. Her story is a testament to how the hard things we’re forced to go through often become the things that shape us most.