In April of 2013, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I thought that would be the end of my health worries and returned to teaching. I didn't realize that the cancer, treatment and subsequent damage to my body would leave me vulnerable to an even more life-changing event.

In October 2013, I was walking in the Kroger parking lot when I stepped in a TINY dip. Both myself and people around me could hear a CRACK, but because I could still walk on the pain I thought I was ok. I walked on the painful leg for three days before going to the dr. I found out the leg was broken, and had surgery the following week. Once inside, I found out I also had shredded my ACL and needed reconstructive surgery. During the surgery, the doctor noticed my bone density was much worse than it should be for my age (29).

After my surgery, my leg deteriorated rapidly and I developed CRPS/RSD. I developed extreme pain, swelling, could not stand on the leg, had atrophy and wasting of the muscle and bone, would spend hours and through the night screaming in pain, would only be able to wear one kind of fabric on the skin, had strange skin and hair changes, and no medications would touch the pain. Luckily I found doctors that knew the diagnosis.

Unfortunately the condition spread throughout my body over the next seven years, and I am now on disability and deal with daily severe chronic pain. I am fortunate to have doctors that work with me to try to alleviate some of the pain, and I work with meditation, therapy, medications, diet and exercise to try to manage some of the stress and pain that comes with dealing with what they call the "suicide disease."

I am raising money for RSDSA because they have done so much for me in providing information and resources when I have had nowhere else to turn, and they continue to be a significant source of funding for research into treatments for our disease.

Please consider donating!