COMMERCE TWP., Mich. (WXYZ) — From the vision board she made at 12-years-old where she was homeschooled in her parent's basement, to huge accomplishments.
“I was very excited to find out that my book, Legend of the Storm Sneezer won Gold in the Children's Mystery Category of the Readers Favorite Book Awards and that just blew me away,” said Kristiana Sfirlea.
“What’s so special about your story?” asked WXYZ’s Glenda Lewis.
“There's a lot of different things I've heard from readers but one of the main things I think is the main character, Rose,” said Sfirlea.
“I love that she has a lot of bad things happen to her. She just makes the best out of them, and she has the best sense of humor. If I could have her sense of humor, I think I'd be set for life,” said Sfirlea.
Just like her popular character Rose, Kristiana Sfirlea spends each day turning the hardships of her life into a happy place.
She was born with a rare condition called gastroparesis. Meaning the muscles in her stomach are paralyzed and don't work to digest food.
“All of those middle school years were just ER's and hospitals and no one could figure out what was going on because gastroparesis is a very rare disease,” said Sfirlea. “It’s not very common especially severe cases like mine.”
As a girl hurting on the inside and trying to figure out life on the outside, Kristiana turned her feelings into the strength behind her character Rose.
“I think watching her sink so low last year especially and then watching how she allowed God to let her rise back up has been the biggest encouragement to my heart,” said Samantha Sfirlea.
“Sometimes I tell her you have too good of a story because the pain is real, and the success is real,” said Marius Sfirlea.
“What I like about her is her spirit now that she actually wants to use this for something greater than herself.”
“This is what I call my arm milkshake and it's kind of what it looks like a milkshake and goes through this tube, into this machine and goes right into my arm here and completely bypasses my digestive system so can get nutrition you need,” said Sfirlea describing her current treatment contained in a backpack.
The backpack has now put Kristiana in the best place of her life thus far and now with book number 2 done, her mission is to use her life as an example for young people that hard work and have a light heart can make your dreams come true.
“Find the thing you are passionate about and stick with it,” said Sfirlea.
“What's your next adventure?” asked Lewis.
“My next adventure? I really want to inspire kids. I would love to do workshops with schools, workshops, churches,” said Sfirlea.
