Disease inspires twins to open up shop
Twins who share everything, especially a love of clothes. These sisters may have many things in common, but one difference? One sister has a disability, and she won’t let that get in the way of living life.
Kendra Vaalemoen, 23, suffers from muscular dystrophy. A group of diseases that cause progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass.
Diagnosed at age 9, the disease did not affect Vaalemoen’s early life too much. However it was struggle to stay active and she had her own insecurities from MD.
“Smiling. That’s one of the things that I am not able to do,” said Vaalemoen. “That is something that probably affects me more than even the body declining and progressing.”
It wasn’t until college that her MD really started to progress even more. With help from family and friends, everything seemed to have gone well. Vaalemoen graduated with her degree in psychology from Idaho State University in May 2016.
Last February, everything changed. A tragedy had struck her and her family.
Her brother, who also suffered with MD, passed away at the age of 29.
“I think that people think that because he passed away that I might pass away, because we have the same thing,” said Vaalemoen. “So, that’s always in the back of my mind.”
However, his passing did help push Kendra to live her best life. Which, meant starting her own blog, From The Soul, to share and document her journey with MD. It’s something she says she struggled with talking about for a long time.
“People who are afraid to talk about it, realize there’s this young, beautiful girl who’s going through the same thing as them and they can talk to her about it and I think that’s awesome and she’s very open and honest,” said Kaitlin Fuhrium, Kendra’s twin sister.
Vaalemoen and her twin took a chance in March 2018 and started their own online boutique, after wanting to do so for so long.
“Well Kendra and I have always, both, loved clothes and we’ve seen some people open boutiques and we’ve debated on opening one for awhile,” said Fuhriman, one half of the owners of Kindred Souls Boutique.
The twins hope to grow their business so Vaalmoen doesn’t have to worry about trying to find a job that she can physically do. They also want to help the disabled community even more by bringing in more clothing items to their boutique that could work for someone with a disability.
“We try to look for clothing that’s like looser fitting because its easier to get on and off,” explained Vaalemoen.
Even if that means having to design the clothes herself.
“I have a brace that I normally wear and it’s really hard to find shoes that are not like hideous, velcro, ugly shoes,” laughed Vaalemoen. “Something that I would like to do is maybe, eventually- one day, design shoes that are actually cute and what you can wear with a brace.”
Right now, all Vaalemoen hopes to do is bring hope to others.
“People that love you are going to love you just the same. They’re not going to see you for your disability, they’re going to support you, and they’re going to have your back 110%,” said Vaalemoen.
