Jenn Hicks the phenomenal SLIding photographer
Afflicted with multiple maladies, she uses her brilliant photography as a relaxation therapy.
She’s electric.
Like, actually electric.
Electric people are a real phenomenon, and 53-year-old photographer and Florida native Jenn Hicks is one of them. Rare conditions are not out of the ordinary with her existence, though. She is now down to “just” nine doctors - after having 19 at one point.
Hicks has been plagued with various ailments and disabilities since a young age. Only in the last several years was she able to reach some answers when Dr. Clive Roberson managed to run the right lab work and reach an all-encompassing diagnosis that answered much of the uncertainties Hicks had been faced with her entire adult life.
“I had all these pseudo-diagnoses from when I was a little girl,” Hicks pointed out. In 2020, she went to Roberson’s office in Stuart, Fla. and presented him with a year’s worth of blood test results. After reviewing those results, he said simply, “I know what you have.”
Hicks didn’t believe what she was hearing. Roberson ordered an additional blood test panel to confirm his prediction: She had eosinophilic asthma. Hicks had a previous diagnosis of hypergammaglobulinemia, wherein the bone marrow produces too many eosinophils. At age 30, she was told she had moderate asthma, which then evolved into exercise-induced asthma, and eventually moderate asthma.
Hicks just knew that when her throat closed, an interaction was definitively necessary to continue breathing. Everything from chemicals, pesticides, pollen, insects, and random foods triggered an attack. Interventions also evolved as the years and intensities of respiratory issues have varied. She’s used everything from antihistamines, Epi-pens, steroids, inhalers, CPAP machines, home oxygen use, and even the Heimlich maneuver on certain occasions when an intense attack occurred, and family and friends didn’t know what else to do.
With a definitive diagnosis and treatment option to go along with it, she felt a wave of relief and validation. After so many years in and out of doctor’s offices, emergency rooms, hospital admissions, endless specialists’ appointments, poking and prodding with needles to obtain bloodwork, she finally had a solid footing to press forward from. She is now treated for the eosinophilic asthma with an injection of Nucala every 28 days.
With the many issues she’s faced, Hicks became unable to hold down a job for any length of time as a result. One of the positions she thrived at was as a property manager. Her health stole that position from her as her attacks were triggered more often than not while on the job.
She now depends on SSDI and scrimps and saves any way that she can. She blames her inability to hold down employment and having less-than-ideal insurance as part of why her journey has been so riddled with obstacles. Aside from eosinophilic asthma, Hicks also has eosinophilic esophagitis, migraines, fibromyalgia, Hashimoto’s thyroid, ankylosing spondylitis, and feline esophagus. Two years ago, she had four tumors removed from her tongue, which she says she never received an explanation for.
The respiratory attacks her body has endured have been the most traumatic to her mentality and physical state.
“My entire respiratory system shuts down when I have an attack,” Hicks clarified. “It’s not just my throat.”
“For so many years, doctors told me it was ‘just’ allergies and panic attacks because ‘she wants attention,’ and my mom believed them,” Hicks said. “She hated to watch what I was going through,” Hicks said. She has faced enormous amounts of doubt and disbelief from society, as many medical sufferers do when dealing with a less-than-average disability.
Let’s explore the aforementioned “electric” peculiarity Hicks deals with.
“I didn’t realize what was happening with me until a friend of mine said her mom had the same thing going on with her,” Hicks explained. She would have electronic devices go haywire in her presence with no explanation. She often times felt like she was crazy and had even been accused of being a witch.
“I disrupt electric energies,” Hicks said. “Electronics just break around me.”
The prefix “SLI” (which stands for street light interference) was first given by paranormal author Hilary Evans in the 1990s. Since that time, the fascination of events surrounding individuals that have effects on nearby electronic devices evolved into referring to these rarities as “Sliders.” The striking effects certain individuals facing this disorder dealt with gained significant attention from researchers and the general public.
“I’ve been through four laptops in the last six years,” Hicks said. “They just end up getting fried because of me.”
To rectify the frequency of these occurrences, Hicks said she uses grounding techniques including going for long walks, modified water exercises, and yoga.
“I realize how important grounding is,” Hicks stated. “If I don’t bathe in baking soda or walk barefoot on the beach, I fry things out.” She said the effect is worse when she is more tense and anxious.
Fine art photography has always been a hobby of hers and she now uses it as another way to ground herself and relieve tension from her body. She’s been recognized locally for her photography talent and attends regular art and photography club meetings in Vero Beach.
“My life has not been the norm,” Hicks admits. Despite everything, she holds onto hope for more answers in her medical future. When her thoughts get carried away, she becomes scared, fearful, and anxious. She can look back in hindsight and cite things she could have and should have done differently or been more vocal about - especially when it came to the treatment and care she received from medical staff over the years.
She continues to push forward and stays as active as she can when she’s physically able to be. “I’ve been bedbound before and I’m grateful now that I’m not,” she explained with reference to a time before her eosinophilic asthma diagnosis where she was limited to the bed twenty days each month. She’s had to wear a back brace following two back procedure and one neck procedure and now uses a cane when needed.
“Music and art are what have kept me going,” Hicks explained when asked about what motivates her. I think museums and galleries are very important to have in life. She also loves trivia, learning, live music, and thrift shopping. Her adoration for learning is something she can’t live without.
Her favorite quote to live by is by Michelangelo: “I am still learning.”
And, she is admittedly always still open to learning and encourages those around her to do the same. “I know that new things are constantly found in history,” Hicks said. “We always explore and revisit history, so there’s bound to be new things uncovered.”
Hicks can be reached at and more of her photography be viewed on Facebook or Instagram.
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