My name is Kim and I live in a small city in Southwestern Pennsylvania, about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. I'm a forty-four year old wife, mother of two sons (Dana, age twenty-seven and Craig, age sixteen) and a granddaughter (Malea, who is two years old). I work full time, attend college part-time, and also work as the secretary of my church.

I was diagnosed in February 2002 with diffuse scleroderma. In addition to the scleroderma, I suffer from Raynaud's, Sjogren's Syndrome, a hiatal hernia, polymyositis, and in May 2002, had pancreatitis and had to have my gall bladder removed after a severe attack.

My father, who died two weeks before my seventh birthday, had sickle cell anemia and I was born with sickle cell trait.

It all began in October of 2000 when my mother contracted a very bad case of pneumonia. She was hospitalized for three and one-half weeks and had another two to three months of recuperation. I took a leave of absence from my job and used the time to take care of her. In August of 2001, when after many doctor visits trying to figure out why her skin had turned so dark and dry, she went to the dermatologist who did a skin biopsy. The results came back as scleroderma. I had only known one other person with scleroderma and it scared me.

We made an appointment with a rheumatologist and he determined that she did not have scleroderma but did have dermatomyositis. He immediately put her on prednisone and scheduled appointments to see her again in three months.

During this time, I was not really taking care of myself and my family began to notice how the skin on the backs of my hands was very shiny and a different texture from the rest of the skin. I went to see my dermatologist about the texture of my skin, as well as the hyperpigmentation and hypopigmented skin changes I was experiencing. She took one look at my hands and asked me if I had problems with the cold. When I told her yes, she ordered blood work and suggested I go see my mother's rheumatologist as I probably had a related condition.

She called about two weeks later to tell me my blood work indicated scleroderma but to have it checked by the rheumatologist. The rheumatologist confirmed the diagnosis of diffuse scleroderma on my initial visit to him. Since then, I have had a muscle biopsy, which confirmed polymyositis. I had to have surgery in October 2002 for a vaginal dysplasia problem. The healing process from that was slow not only because of the prednisone, but also because of my immune system being screwed up. This week I underwent an EGD (Gastroscopy) to determine why I have a hard time swallowing. The doctor did not find any lesions or scar tissue, but did stretch the esophagus to make swallowing easier for me.

I battle flare-ups on what is almost a monthly basis and can almost predict the weather by the way my body feels. What keeps me going in spite of all of this is my faith. Because "Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Update: December 7,2004

I am now on a short-term disability leave from my job. I have applied for SSD because it has become too painful for me to perform in my job at the level of profeciency I was before this illness. The thing that scares me the most is that one day I will be even more limited to the things I can do with my granddaughter. She is my heart and the one thing that keeps me going when nothing else can. I am still battling flare-ups but I hold on to God's unchanging Hand.