alison found more than just a hobby in the furry world. experienced suit makers can bring in up to $10,000 a suit. though alison is just a beginner her business is already booming. within a month i had pegged out for most of this year. now at this point i m starting to fill up for next year. did you ever think that you could make a living doing this? not a clue. i always had a big passion for wildlife but i never thought i would take the concept of being one with nature quite so literal. does this need to be clipped up the middle? no. that s where the zipper goes. so we ll be sewing it last. have you gotten john into furries. yeah. is he a furry? yeah. after we started dating he was like hey, can i make one? and we re like sure.
it s a bit overwhelming, but there s payoff because a lot of them are doing the same thing i m doing. they re covering anxiety or covering some sort of social awkwardness that makes it hard for they them, so there is a relatability there as well. as awesome as captain boonz is, do you think there could come a time when you don t need him, you can go too big events as sean? that s the goal, to keep stepping forward because it s a progression of how i work on myself and how i ve been fighting my anxiety. is that why you did the panel? yeah. i have all this experience. i have to do something with it. it s better to pour positive out into the world than just continue eating away at the negativity. so this has been good? this has been really good. while sean digests all he s experienced, alison and john are
how different is a sheda from alison? i mean, she s that other part of me that i used to be back when i was healthy. i used to be up and running and doing all sorts of stuff. i was always exploring. we were hunting for different things to do. i miss that. i miss what i used to be like. for alison, a sheda is a way for her to transport herself back in time. the mouth moves too? yeah. for me, face-to-face with another furry, it still feels surreal. for alison it s completely normal. putting the head on it s like i become a sheda. at that moment i m not the sick person in the wheelchair. it s a very releasing feeling. you can pet her. [ growling ] i love it.
experiencing pain so severe she s often confined to a wheelchair. it s been really hard and it was really scary, you know, when you realize oh, this isn t going away. this is my life. at first alison thought it was her active lifestyle wearing her down. you know, i m 20. maybe i m just overdoing things. i kept getting tired and tired and i couldn t figure out why. then you got sick? then i got sick. i started having fevers constantly and started having seizures, and a lot of seizures. it got to a point where i was having five, six, seven, ten seizures a day. after several hospitalization, alison was finally given multiple diagnoses. they are like yeah, it s lupus. then he said you have a rare genetic mutation. due to the complexity of these overlapping conditions there s no effective treatment options available. how often do you think about
gearing up for one of the convention s final events. sean first. the masquerade ball. alison has even fashioned a few special accents for their first suits. a flower crown for asheda and a bow tie and cape for artenex. there you go. he s been there behind me supporting me. and seeing him embrace the things that i like to do has been a huge impact on my life. you look beautiful, sheda. thank you. all right. like to thank you guys for attending the formal masquerade ball.