About Us
The EDS Zebra Club started in February 2014 as a group of friends seeking answers for our complex health issues and a community of support for our journey.
Our founder Belinda Addison had an incredibly difficult health journey that included losing her career, raising her children from her bed, having to fundraise for 4 life-saving brain and spinal surgeries with major complications, learning to walk again multiple times and was primarily bedridden in debilitating pain for over a decade. You can read her story here.
In 2023 she regained her quality of life thanks to discovering FSM and we went bigger. We restructured our group to provide fun activities and encouraging prompts, began hosting social events throughout North Metro Atlanta along with monthly Virtual Meetups and quickly grew into a large loving Zebra Family.
Paying It Forward
Because of her difficult health journey with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Chiari Malformation, Craniocervical Instability, Tethered Cord, Adrenal Insufficiency, MCAS and much more— Belinda has a big heart to give back to the EDS Community. She spends her time using her experience to help others and paying forward all the love and support she received on her own journey.
As someone who had to fundraise to save their own life, Belinda understands the financial difficulties we can face on this journey. So, the EDS Zebra Club is one of the very few support groups which not only provides guidance on fundraising through a free eBook guide, but after proper vetting allows for the sharing of GoFundMe’s for these vital surgeries with a specialist.
#ZebrasHelpingZebras
There are many critical needs within the EDS Community, and we perform many charitable deeds to help those enduring difficult circumstances. From delivering plates of food to our fellow Zebras who are hospitalized during Thanksgiving and Christmas to our annual #ZebraChristmas a “toy drive” where we come together to make sure our sweet zebra babes whose parents are enduring hardships receive gifts at Christmas along with many other campaigns throughout the year to help our zebras in need.
The EDS Zebra Club is a labor of love. We don’t accept donations for keeping our services free. We do however encourage you to pay it forward and help another sweet zebra in need. #ZebrasHelpingZebras
Fractured Zebra Families
We are also home to many precious Fractured Zebra Families.
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is one of many differential diagnoses that can mimic child abuse and many families of medically fragile children have been unfairly torn apart. We have embraced these factually innocent families and stood alongside You Are the Power in supporting them along with promoting their fundraisers and attending events.
We have such gratitude for You Are the Power along with Rebecca Lindstrom from 11Alive with her the “Help That Harms” series and Parents Behind the Pinwheels for all they’ve done to support and bring awareness to what’s happening to the families of medically fragile children. The EDS Zebra Club will continue to stand beside these families and do everything we can to offer them support and bring about much needed change.
Our Team
Belinda Addison
EDS Zebra Club Founder
Belinda is the wife of Dr. Jason Addison, the mother of two Zebras and a grandmother. She attended the Dr. Sears Wellness Institute and became a Certified Health & Wellness Coach in order to implement what she learned into her own life and simply to help others in the EDS Community.
Together with her husband she has worked hard to bring awareness to innovative solutions for managing the pain and symptoms of EDS and is so proud of her husband for helping so many with EDS regain their quality of life at the Ehlers-Danlos and Hypermobility Clinic at Addison’s in Kennesaw, GA.
For over 14 years, she has provided support and advocated for those with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Chiari Malformation. It means a lot to her to pay forward all the love and support she received on her own difficult health journey and hopes to inspire other Zebras to pay it forward as well. #ZebrasHelpingZebras
Tracy Diehl
EDS Zebra Club Team
Tracy is married to Jason Diehl and is originally from Wisconsin but has called Georgia her home for many years now. She brings valuable knowledge and experience from her years spent devoted to helping the EDS Community including her time as a volunteer with EDS, Wisconsin Inc.
She received a diagnosis of hEDS or Hypermobile type Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in 2007 along with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome in 2017 and in 2019 she had mitral valve repair.
Like Belinda, she has found that thinking outside the box and utilizing both holistic and conventional medicine to be the most helpful on her journey.
It’s important to Tracy to use her experience to help EDSers and she devotes much time being committed to making a difference in their lives.
