Dan Pero
March 7th, 2008
I write this having just returned from my quarterly check up. My rheumatoid arthritis is in remission and has been for over two years. Like I said, a miracle.
Almost eight years ago, when my son was a year old and my daughter just a few months old, I was diagnosed with this hideous disease. It hit quick, in a matter of weeks. Like a freight train. And it was bad.
I couldn’t raise my arms over my head. I spent every evening with ice packs on my shoulders to reduce the swelling. My fingers were so swollen they had no definition. Nodules had started to form on my wrists and knuckles. My left knee ached so much I often had to sleep with it propped on a stool. At times I slept on the floor because it was impossible to get comfortable on a mattress. Walking was like stepping on needles. Special shoes didn’t help. I was miserable. Read More »
Mark Miller
April 14th, 2008
I am in my 40th year of teaching World History and coaching varsity football and softball at Linden High School in Linden, Ca. I suffered a heart attack after softball practice in January of 2003. I was taken by ambulance to St Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton, Ca where a stent was put in my heart. I was then put in the ICU where a nurse weighed me at 390 lbs. Two mornings later I had a major heart attack. The responding nurses saved my life.
I was told to change my lifestyle or die. Over the next 8 months, I had 3 more stents, failed four cardiolite stress tests, and through diet and exercise, lost 190 lbs. In August I was told I needed open heart surgery. I told the doctor that we were a week into football and that the timing was not convenient. He laughed and said “Coach, actually the timing is perfect, without surgery, you are out of time.” Read More »
Richard Benolken
April 14th, 2008
I am 63 years old and I realize my health won’t be like it was when I was in my 20s. But even for my age I was feeling abnormally, I thought, tired. I couldn’t seem to find any of the energy I once had. I thought my symptoms would only get worse, I thought they were aging signs that were inevitable. I didn’t know that most men over 50 have low testosterone and that low testosterone causes these symptoms. My symptoms included being very lethargic, almost no vitality, low muscle mass, depression and I was having trouble thinking clearly. I would take two to three daily naps and my wife noticed that I my temperament was going south as I was cranky, nitpicked at small things, and generally I was not a pleasant person to live with. Read More »
Patricia Campbell
November 16th, 2007
Unfortunately getting older is a fact of life, but being a victim of your health doesn’t have to be. A number of years ago, I was working in Montana when I fell and broke my hip. While I was working hard to complete my therapy and regain my strength, I went outside one day to find my cat and fell down again and broke my other hip. I spent three years recuperating. This was an incredibly difficult time, as I had to leave a job that I really loved. I had started out as a detox technician and then later worked directly with dual-diagnosis substance abuse patients. It was a fulfilling experience working with people and helping them to improve their lives. Read More »
John Jones
October 26th, 2007
My story begins over three years ago. I woke up in morning of May 23, 2004, and headed to work to begin what I thought was another normal day. Halfway through the work day I could barely stay awake. I was also having trouble breathing. I told my boss and left work a bit worried about what was going on.The next day I went to the doctor and after performing some tests, he gave me some news I was not expecting. My life, as well as my family’s, really changed that day. Read More »
Angie Roberts
March 31st, 2008
I am 39 years old and am happily married with 2 children. My story begins last year when I found out I had Multiple Sclerosis (MS). My diagnosis and the series of events that I experienced were quite a whirlwind, which is finally becoming a comfortable reality.
It all began with an incredible eye ache. I suffered for about a week. Then I went to an evening engagement where I drank several glasses of wine. I recall that detail due to the fact that my head stopped pounding. I felt cured, until the next morning. Then I assumed that I was experiencing a hangover but the following day, the ache was still there. I called my doctor, who then referred me to an eye doctor. I went that day. After a “light” exam, I was asked if I new what MS was? Of course I knew due to the fact that my dad has been suffering that disease for years. Read More »
Dwight Shelton
March 19th, 2008
I’m a 41 year old man who has been living with diabetes since I was 10 years old. Diabetes runs in my family. In fact, I used to help my grandmother fix her needle and to take her shot of insulin many times while growing up. She lived a long life; in fact, she lived to be 85 years old. I also have a sister and a younger brother that have Type 1 diabetes.
Two years ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Being that I’m a commercial driver I was scared that this disease could impact my career. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to do my job, or take care of my family. I was afraid that if I had to take insulin shots, I could lose my license to drive a commercial vehicle. Read More »
Bonnie Smith
March 31st, 2008
I am a Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor and here is my miracle. In 2002 I was laid off from my job due to downsizing, and at this point I decided to go back to college to get my degree. I graduated in May of 2004, and found a position. I had been having a health issue for over a span of 5 years that I had been complaining to my doctor about. My symptoms were chalked up to having my son naturally and just needed to do some exercises. Finally, I complained to my obgyn about my incontinent problem. I was only 37 years old (and too young to be having this problem) and a single mom to a 5 year old beautiful boy. We thought my bladder may be distended. After several tests I found out I had Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (I didn’t even know what this was). My outlook wasn’t very good. I had lymphnodes in my pelvic area that were loaded with cancer cells (one was the size of a small stone, the second a little bigger and the third was the size of a small boulder). The doctor said I needed to have chemo and radiation, and that I needed to start ASAP. In my mind I thought I’ll do whatever I have to because I have to be here to take care of my beautiful boy. Read More »
Renee L. Cruea
March 24th, 2008
I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was 14 years old. The most prominent memories I have of that time period include being told I would have to inject insulin every day for the rest of my life. As terrifying as that news may be for a teenager, it was not the most upsetting memory I have. I recall vividly being told I could no longer eat pasta, I should not risk a pregnancy and I was led to believe that my expectations of what I wanted out of life needed to be “tempered.” Try telling a 14 year old Italian girl from New York that she needs to temper her goals in life and do so without pasta, and you have one unhappy child determined to prove them all wrong. Attitude is an important and vital key to success in life. It can be more difficult initially to maintain a positive attitude but it can be done and I am proof of that. Read More »
Rosalie DeFilippis
March 14th, 2008
I was diagnosed with lupus in 1997, but I knew I had the disease since I was a child. When I was 13 years old, I was a cheerleader and always suffering pain in my joints. My doctor told me I was using my muscles incorrectly and that I should remain off my feet for a while to see if my condition improved, which it did. Years later, when my knees and ankles began to swell, I was suspected of having rheumatoid arthritis, although never officially diagnosed with the condition. Finally, in 1997, when my symptoms worsened to a point where it became difficult for me to walk, I visited a rheumatologist, who diagnosed me with lupus after some simple blood tests. Read More »
Richard Leslie
November 8th, 2007
I started suffering from epilepsy in 1991. A seizure is a sudden, excessive discharge of nervous system electrical activity that usually causes a change in behavior.At the time I starting having seizures, I was a union electrician. I had a good life, a good job and was not prepared for the life change that would occur with having epilepsy. I learned that a person with three or more recurring seizures is said to have epilepsy.When I first started having seizures, I found a great neurologist who began studying my seizures and worked to determine why I was having them. Unfortunately, the reasons I started having seizures is still unknown. However, what my doctors did know is that there were medicines available to help regain the quality of life I had known before the onset of my epilepsy. Read More »
Paige Brown-Strong
September 11th, 2007
I had chronic myeloid leukemia, which is an uncontrolled division of certain white blood cells. When I was diagnosed in 1999, I was told that the average survival rate was one to three years I was given about a year as my own prognosis. Now, here I am, eight years later, in effect cancer free. Back then I began what was then the only known treatment for this type of leukemia, which was a combination of interferon and chemotherapy. At first it seemed to be working, but as we progressed and got closer to that year mark, I became sicker and sicker and sicker. So I went on line to try to find out about other drugs. The type of leukemia I had was one of the rarer ones, so I did not have a lot of faith that there would be a lot of research committed to it. Read More »
Katherine Thomas
March 7th, 2008
As I was growing up, I was always very active and extremely passionate about sports. At the beginning of high school, however, I developed increasingly severe spasticity and completely lost the ability walk by my senior year. After several surgeries, Botox injections, and countless foggy days due to muscle-relaxing and pain-relieving drugs, I had my first intrathecal Baclofen pump implanted in 2000. The pump is really a unique medication delivery device, because it enables my body to receive the necessary medication without interrupting my daily activities due to debilitating side effects. Read More »
Jeff Trewhitt
September 6th, 2007
Working for America’s pharmaceutical research companies, to me, is far more than just a good job. I am determined to do what I can to help sustain the environment that allows our researchers and scientists to continue creating the medicines that are so important to patients all over the world.
The fact is, I’m both a communications officer at PhRMA and a cancer patient in remission, thanks largely to a crucial chemotherapy developed by one of our member companies. More than seven years ago, I was around the corner from death, suffering from advanced hairy cell leukemia. My oncologist got me started immediately on leustatin to fight the cancer cells and gave me other medications to regenerate my blood. An ample supply of antibiotics was available to defeat an infection that developed and within five weeks, I was off medical leave and back on the job. Read More »
Melannie Godfrey
September 11th, 2007
In May 2000 I began to have some health issues that despite several medications and some minor explorative surgery, wasn’t being diagnosed. After months of different treatments, I was finally diagnosed with a brain tumor. I couldn’t have been more stunned than if I was told I was going to grow a third limb! My 14 and 16 year old children had just unexpectedly lost their dad in May of 2000 and I was terrified they may become orphans.The physician ordered an MRI/Brain Scan for a couple of days later and told me that it would probably take 7 - 10 business days before he received the radiologist’s report. Much to my surprise, the doctor called me back within a couple of hours of the procedure and confirmed that I did, in fact, have a brain tumor. Due to all of the recent extensive medications, including some hormonal/steroid medications, the doctor wanted me to wait six months to get the extensive prior medications out of my system and to see if the tumor was in a growing stage.
After a follow up MRI at the first of the year in 2001, the brain tumor I had had doubled in size… Read More »
