A spoonie is someone living with a chronic illness.
It mostly refers to physical chronic illnesses, though it has been known to be a helpful term for those with chronic mental illness as well.
It originates from
Christine Miserandino's Spoon Theory story, in which she explains what it's like to live with chronic illness to a friend, and uses a handful of spoons to demonstrate.
For example, daily activities that healthy
people tend not to think about take tolls on
people with chronic illness. You start the
day with a certain number of spoons, and play your day around not running out. Socializing might cost spoons, using the stairs might cost spoons, lifting things might cost spoons, etc.