Teresa “T.C.” Raines
December 7th, 2007
In December 2005, I lost my job. Then, just a few months later in February 2006, I was seriously injured in a bicycle accident. While riding my bike, I lost my balance and the bike fell and landed on top of my left leg. The accident left me severely injured, and forced me to be in a wheel chair for four months. The accident also left me with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), an uncommon, chronic condition that usually affects a person’s arm or leg. I had to go through eight different procedures and two surgeries because of the condition. Now, I also have to take four different prescription medicines to manage my condition and without them I cannot function.
The entire situation has been a very devastating and emotional experience for me. I went from being an independent woman to feeling as though I had lost everything. But things have improved for me significantly because of miracles in medicines. Because of the medicines I take, I have been able to return to some level of normalcy in life without sacrificing my dignity and independence. Oh so often, we take independence for granted. We think it will always be there. And if it is taken away, we often have the illusion that it will be much later in our lives. But I know better than that. I know that the independence our bodies afford us can be taken away in the twinkling of an eye without a moment’s notice. Thankfully, though, I do not have to live my days in bondage to my body because of the medicines I am able to take so that I can lead a normal life with a healthy quality of life.
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