Life with Narcolepsy College student Kailey Profeta was diagnosed with narcolepsy when she was 9 years old. She was home-schooled for years until doctors developed a combination of medications that would keep her awake during the day and let her sleep at night. She graduated from high school at the top of her class, but life with narcolepsy is not easy. “What I feel like on a regular day is what a normal person would feel after not sleeping for 7 days—that’s how tired narcoleptics feel. Narcolepsy affects my life a lot, but I’m still me,” Kailey says. To listen to Kailey’s story and to hear more first-person accounts of life with narcolepsy, go to http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/08/26/health/TE_NARCOLEPSY.html

David Walter Banks for The New York Times/Redux