Mary Jane Crowley

Mary Jane Crowley is a lifelong observer and recorder of nature through art, with degrees in fine art (painting) and environmental science.

During art school in the '80s, she began reading scientific American articles on climate change which drew alarm. This led to her studying environmental science, beginning with a bridging Diploma of Conservation and Land Management in 2010.

At the completion of a Master of Environmental Management in 2017, major surgeries increased Mary Jane's already large disease burden from CFS and dysautonomia, and her illness became chronic.

Her decades-long quest for real answers – being sure science must have them – meant Mary Jane finally looked into the science. Investigations led to her discovering an inherited serious, chronic connective tissue disease called hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS).

This real diagnosis has been life-changing and Mary Jane wants to raise awareness of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome to help others.