It’s a blog! I’d like to introduce my first guest blogger, Jim Capron! In this blog, Jim talks about dealing with an incredibly difficult health issue, Lyme Disease, and how Jyn Erso was the character that gave him hope during one of the most challenging times of his life.

About Me

I’m 29 years old, I’ve lived in Cleveland, Ohio my whole life, I’m a Certified Public Accountant at Cleveland Clinic, and it probably goes without saying that I’m a huge Star Wars fan!

Jim and the Unmistakably Star Wars Podcast crew!

Lyme Disease

Without getting into too much detail, in 2017 my health gradually and very unexpectedly started to decline. It took the doctors awhile to figure out what was going on, but by late 2017, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease, which is known as being a very challenging condition to treat.

Throughout all of 2018, I went through several different treatments, but didn’t seem to have any luck with anything at the time. That condition took complete control over my life for well over a year and I struggled with it more than anything in my entire life. Everyday I felt like I was drowning, just trying to survive and keep my head above water.

Luckily, with the right treatment changes, in early 2019, I started to gain a lot more traction with putting this condition into remission. While I still have a couple lingering side effects that should pass with time, most days I’m 90% my normal self, which is more than I could hope for, considering how much I struggled with it.
Jyn Erso

I was seven when the original trilogy special editions came out and I’ve been a huge Star Wars fan ever since. While there are so many aspects of Star Wars that I love, my favorite character is, without question, Jyn Erso because of how much I found myself relating to her emotionally and how important her story of hope and perseverance became to me when I was really sick.

Jyn’s story captivated me from the start because, at the beginning of Rogue One, she’s completely hopeless, apathetic, beat down, and exhausted, and she wants to give up on herself. And those were all emotions I struggled with for well over a year when my health was at its worst.

There are so many Jyn moments that I identify with, but one in particular is when she’s talking to Saw about the Empire and the Rebellion and she says “All it’s ever brought me is pain.” I empathized with her so much in that moment because I also had a burden that took complete control over my life and caused me so much pain and frustration. And like Jyn, for over a year, no matter how hard I fought, it always beat me at the end of every day.

Jyn’s story also really resonated with me though because of how she was able to go from that to moving on from her past, forgiving Saw, her father, and the Rebellion, restoring her hope in herself, and ultimately pushing through and achieving the impossible. While I certainly had a lot of support throughout this experience with my family, friends, co-workers, doctors, and the online Star Wars community, Jyn’s story gave me an immense amount of hope and mental strength to push through that tough time.

I remember watching the “World Between Worlds” episode in Rebels Season 4 when it first aired, and when Jyn said “the time to fight is now,” it really hit me hard emotionally because of how important that one, simple line became to me during that struggle. I think that’ll always be my favorite line in all of Star Was because of how it got me through so many challenging days when I wanted to give up.

As I mentioned previously, there are so many Jyn moments that resonate with me, but one that always sticks out is when she’s on top of the citadel tower on Scarif getting ready to transmit the Death Star plans. She’s bruised and covered in blood, dirt, sweat, and tears, but she’s still limping to the transmission console, giving every ounce of energy that she has to that mission, and nothing in the galaxy is going to stop her from accomplishing her goals. That visual representation of mental and physical perseverance was so real to me and something that resonated with me in a way I can’t even describe.

I could go on and on, but you can probably tell by now that Jyn Erso’s story means absolutely everything to me. I certainly realize that Star Wars is a fictional universe and the characters don’t actually exist, but I don’t think I’d be where I’m at today without Jyn’s story.And while there are so many Star Wars characters that I love, I think Jyn will always be my favorite because of how much I’ve identified with her and how important her hope and perseverance has been to me throughout this part of my life. She’ll always be the definition of a true hero to me.

I’d like to thank Jim so much for sharing his incredible story!

You can find Jim on Twitter @jimccapron!

Jim and I at Star Wars Celebration Chicago!