BUFORD, Ga. — Wednesday marked one year until the 2024 Summer Olympics kick off in Paris. As the days count down, three-time Olympic gold medalist and track star Gail Devers is sharing her decade long struggle with Graves' disease.
From her UGGS to her nails, everything about Gail Devers makes a statement.
“I have to have shoes that get up and go with me when I’m going," Devers said. "It could be running boots, regular boots, just as long as they’re boots."
What's in her boots is a decorated Olympian who has dominated in both sprints and hurdles.
“The last gold medal for the 100 meters for women was mine in 1996. That’s a long time for U.S.A.," Devers said.
The track star won her first gold medal in 1992 where she says she faced her toughest opponent ever.
“I remember like it was yesterday, the man, he called off second place and he said 'And champion from USA Gail Devers' and I took off on my victory lap. And he was like 'Slow down, you got to savor the moment,"' Devers said.
The newly crowned gold medalist had just been diagnosed with Graves' disease two years prior.
"I had eye pain, bulging, redness. Weight loss for me was a big deal especially as an athlete," Devers added.
She said it took years for doctors to figure out what was wrong with her. At one point she was told she might have to have her feet amputated.
"I remember finally after two and half years of being diagnosed and then going out months later – and winning my very first gold medal," Devers said.
Devers had overcome the impossible, but her fight was far from over.
“I remember one night, I was driving at nighttime and the lights from the cars coming at me were blinding. I started searching and I found out I had thyroid eye disease," she recalled.
Thyroid eye disease is an autoimmune disease in which the eye muscles and fatty tissue behind the eye become swollen, which can create a bulging or staring effect with the eyes, also making your eyelids and eyes to become bloodshot and swollen.
Devers just recently discovered she had been suffering from both for the last several decades.
“I’m a sprinter and I’m supposed to get to that finish line first, but I’ve taken that marathon route and I don’t want anybody else to have to do that," she said.
She's now using July, Graves' Disease Awareness Month to make a statement so that others don't have to take that marathon route.
"All of you are on my relay team. On this relay, in that baton – there’s knowledge. And in that knowledge is to pass it to someone else and keep passing it," she said.