To everyone reading this I am here to let you know there is hope. I'm a 24 year old female who was diagnosed with linear scleroderma 3 years ago.

Since I can remember my left leg has always been smaller than my right one but I never thought anything of it when I was growing up.

My symptoms started when I was around 20 years old. I noticed a spot over my left knee, which I came to know as a morphea spot later. I lost about 50 percent of the strength in my hands and they were quite swollen.

The first doctor I had seen told me that the spot on my knee was just a bruise that would never go away and the symptoms in my hands were probably because I was clenching my fists at night. So for the next little while this is what I believed. Since I had moved to a new city I got a new family doctor who has been great through my whole illness. She immediately set an appointment up with a rheumatologist who after many tests diagnosed me with scleroderma. Like many of you I had never even heard of scleroderma before I was diagnosed so I didn't know what to expect.

Over the next year things got a lot worse, the morphea spread up and down my leg. I lost all my range of motion in my ankle and I could only bend my knee 90 degrees. This was devastating to me because I was a very active person. I started getting ulcers and with the ulcers came extreme pain. Some days I couldn't even get out of bed because the pain was so bad. The worst part was always trying to explain to people what was wrong with me.

I tried some of the different treatments like the UVA light treatment, and methotrexate. But I don't think they worked very well for me.  I just had to wait it out.

In the summer of 2003 things started getting better. My ulcers started to heal and no new ones were appearing. The pain was decreasing and I was feeling a lot better.

I'm back now to my old self with what I like to think of as war scars on my leg. I still have very little range of motion in my ankle and knee but I get around it. I'm active again, I am able to participate in step classes and do my weight training.

I want everyone to know that even though you may feel that it is never going to get better, it will get better. Somethings happen for a reason. I think this experience has made me appreciate life, family and friends alot more. The future still scares me because of the uncertainty of the course of the disease but I now know I can handle it and anything else that comes along.

If anyone has any questions or comments please email me.

Norma :)  normasmith@hotmail.com