When Heather Hawk Frank was a child, her dad noticed she wasn’t progressing like other kids. Her parents took her to a neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic who diagnosed her with neuropathy, but she wasn’t officially diagnosed with CMT Type 1A until she was in high school. Heather has never let CMT stop her from achieving her dreams. In kindergarten, she told her parents she wanted to become a teacher, and in 2006, she graduated from Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio, with degrees in education and history. Heather then went on to pursue a master’s degree in educational leadership and obtained her principal’s license through the State of Ohio. She is currently a school principal in a preschool through eighth grade school. Heather met her husband Dave in 2005, and they were married in 2009. They currently reside in Brook Park with their nine rescued animals. In her free time, Heather enjoys reading, traveling (especially to study history), kayaking, racing, and spending time with her nieces and nephew. Heather knows of no other family members with CMT and met no one else with the disease while growing up. One night, after a difficult appointment at the neurologist, she was looking online for information about CMT and found the CMTA. Although Heather was excited to discover a group working to raise awareness and find a treatment for CMT, she was disappointed that there were no support groups in the Cleveland area. A month later, she began to organize the Cleveland Branch, which held its first meeting in May 2012. Heather is so grateful to have the CMTA in her life as well as all of the friends she has made in by being a part of this wonderful community. In the future she hopes for a world without CMT!