Back to the MMA Newsfeed

Serena DeJesus found peace in her autism amidst the chaos of MMA

Serena DeJesus wasn’t like all the other kids in her class growing up.

Raised in Philadelphia, the new addition to the Invicta FC roster was non-verbal until she was six years old, and she didn’t interact with her classmates in constructive ways. She wasn’t interested in making friends, and she was painfully shy in comparison to most of the kids similar in age.

At the time, DeJesus’ mother Billie decided to take her to a doctor. The investigation led to a misdiagnosis, which then resulted in DeJesus being fed numerous pharmaceutical drugs that didn’t make things any better and, if anything, only exacerbated the situation.