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Stacie

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Hello,

My name is stacie and i am 20 with JRA. I have had it since i was 18 months old. I was standing on the sofa and my mom noticed that i just collapsed. They took me to the hospital and the doctor diagnosed me with jra.. I have had this for so long that i don't know what feeling normal is like.I am currently on a vitamin called triplefelx and naproxen. Sometimes i just cry but that doesn't help me at all. I have to deal with the hand i was dealt. It hurts to move sometimes but i do it. I drive, i clean and do other things that a regular teen does. My mom and stepdad are very supporitve of it. And i have awesome friends. I am the only one in my family to have it. My 23 year old brother is fine and so is my 11 year old sister. I feel like i have been robbed of something but on the other hand i really can't be mad at god. He gave me this for some reason. And i am alot more fortunate than alot of other people. Through High School no one knew that i had it except for my friends. I am also very thin so they always stared at me like ' what is wrong with her". If you look at my hands and feet you can tell i have it, but other than that i look fine. But i know that i am not. I met guy that knew and he was fine with it but i wasn't it. He called me beautiful and things like that but it was so difficult to hear those things so i told him we couldn't see each other anymore. I am scared i am going to do that forever. i don't let people get close and i don't know how to change that. I mean i look at people like britney spears and wonder "why did i get stuck with this'? I would love to be a singer but all the work they do is so hard. But i just need to learn to be happy with myself. I have always been told " If you don't love youself, don't excpet anyone else to love you" Which is so true. Oh My Goodness enough of my sappy story;-) To get right to it I have JRA and have for a while. And if there are teens or anyone out there that has it and would like to talk i would be more than happy to chat. My email is shopalot1982@cs.com.

Hope to hear from you soon;-) Stacie