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Matthew Horsnell is a person with Type 1 Narcolepsy. He also is a multi-faceted narcolepsy advocate. He’s a speaker, a blogger, legislative advocate and narcolepsy support group leader.

In this episode, Matthew and Claire discussed how becoming a dad pushed him to figure out his extreme daytime sleepiness that he dealt with throughout his childhood.  He, in his words, “passed the test with flying colors,” and was diagnosed with Type 1 Narcolepsy. 

After navigating living with narcolepsy, being a parent and generally being an adult for a few years, Matthew realized he wanted to be vocal about his narcolepsy and spread narcolepsy awareness. Matthew is a generous narcolepsy advocate. He first entered into advocacy through the Know Narcolepsy awareness campaign. He participated in Project Sleep’s Rising Voices of Narcolepsy Program to help him confidently speak about living with narcolepsy. Today he advocates by speaking at events, webinars, and participating as a legislative advocate in DC. He writes blogs on Health Union about living with narcolepsy. He facilitates a weekly online support group through Wake Up Narcolepsy.  He also is an active social media advocate posting and spreading awareness with the hashtag = #worldsstrongestpersonhavingnarcolepsywithcataplexy.

Matthew shares about how exercise, therapy, support groups, and connecting with the narcolepsy community have brought about a fuller life. We really appreciated Matthew’s honesty and empathy that he offers in sharing his experiences living with narcolepsy.

You can follow Matthew at @mhorsnell on Instagram and  @matthorsnell on Twitter. You can read his writings about narcolepsy for Health Union here. You can watch his Rising Voices of Narcolepsy Story Sharing Event. You can also watch his presentation, "Social Support and Counseling: Navigating Narcolepsy And Mental Health Comorbidities" during Wake Up Narcolepsy REAL: Navigating Narcolepsy and Mental Health Education Day Webinar.

You can follow Wake Up Narcolepsy at @narcolepsy_360 on Instagram, @wakeupnarcolepsy on Instagram and Facebook and @wakenarcolepsy on Twitter. Let us know your thoughts about this episode by using the hashtag #narcolepsy360 and please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.