Rachel

My name is Rachel I am 27yrs. old and live in Ft. Myers FL. I was first diagnosed with raynauds disease when I was 15 then when I was 18 and going to college my skin started tightening on my hands, arms, and face. So then I was diagnosed with scleroderma. Very quickly it progressed, I had a lot of swelling and stiffness in my joints. It all happened so fast, one day I was jogging through the woods up at school, and the next day I could barely move, every part of my body hurt. Then I had to have my esophagus dialated every few months so that I could swallow, it has also caused some damage to my lungs, and at one time I could hardly breath after walking out to mail a letter. At this time I was living in Mich. which is where I grew up and all my family is so when all my doctors told me that I have to move where it is warm or I'll just keep feeling worse, I was just devastated. By this time I had to quit school because I couldn't get up for class or hold a pencil to do the work, so I was down in the dumps, I thought that my life was over. So then my family and I took a vacation to Fl. and I ended up moving there a month later. Even though I did feel a lot better being out of the cold I still felt awful for all that I gave up. It was really hard being by myself without my family. Then in time everything got better, I met the guy that I am with now and we have had a great relationship now for almost 4yrs. He works hard at his job and he works hard taking care of me and our house. He does everything. I just had a baby March 16th,2002 and he is incredible. I had a very healthy pregnancy which surprized all my doctors, and actually since I got pregnant I have not once gotten my esophagus dialated, and really since I've been in the warm weather I haven't had any swelling and stiffness in my joints. Florida really has been great therapy for me, now I can't imagine ever living anywhere else, and how lucky I feel that because of the scleroderma I had to move to such a beautiful place where I have an incredibl Anyway I'd really like to talk with anyone that would like to talk. Thankyou everyone for your letters they were inspireing.

Love Rachel - rachjwaw316@hotmail.com