Sophomore Mikayla Gontko spent the first seven years of her life experiencing symptoms of Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) without a diagnosis. Now, she is using her voice to raise awareness on EDS, as she prepares to compete in the National American Miss Texas pageant in June.
This is Gontko’s third year as Texas state finalist. In her first year, she placed in the top ten and qualified for nationals, where she competed in spokesmodel, and delivered a speech about EDS, which is a genetic disorder that affects connective tissues due to low collagen production, causing symptoms like joint pain, bruising and fatigue.
“Pageants kind of got me to the point where I am now with the strength of being able to speak out,” Gontko said. “When I did get misdiagnosed, I was dimmed and didn’t really want to speak out, but being able to have pageants where you speak on stage in front of hundreds of people, really gave me the realization that I can do this, and I can stand that for myself, and that really is what started this whole platform.”
To further raise awareness on EDS, Gontko is in the process of creating a children’s book called “Sometimes Think Zebra,” where profits will go towards research for EDS. Her English 2 teacher Sloen Zieverink, who also did pageantry growing up, and English 4 teacher Robb Bass have guided Gontklo through the writing and publishing process.
“When Mikayla said she did pageants, it was a super fun immediate topic that we could bond over,” Zieverink said. “It was really cool to hear her story and pageants have impacted her in a very similar way that they did to me when I was younger. I greatly admire Michaela and how she’s really platforming her issue, she’s a really incredible student.”
Gontko created an Instagram account, @sometimes.think.zebra, to highlight her journey and amplify EDS. Gontko also said she wants to raise donations for EDS research.
“During pageantry, I have a lot of amazing friends that I met through and I saw that they had platforms for things that they were passionate about,” Gontko said. “Then I realized I’ve always wanted to raise awareness for EDS.”
To ease her symptoms, Gontko does physical therapy, which helps strengthen her joints and core.
“[EDS] doesn’t really affect my pageantry,” Gontko said. “They call it an invisible illness because you can’t see it on the outside of me, but on the inside there are some days where I have flares where my body is in a lot of pain and fatigue, but I have dealt with it since I was seven years old. I found ways to work through it and kind of manage it.”
Gontko started preparation for National America Miss in February and does coaching through Lisa Dean Inc, where her coach Haleigh Hurst helps her through her interview skills, walking, presentation and outfits.
“Pageants really do give girls the voice that they need to speak out about things that they’re passionate for,” Gontko said. “Pageantry has helped me with public speaking so much and it’s skills that people have taken out in their adult life to get careers.”