Your Stories

Gail Pizzigati, 51

Oceanside, NY

I am 51 and have RA, fibromyalgia and CFS. I have had RA for 32 years. When I was diagnosed I was a dancer, an athlete and a 19 year-old college student with dreams. I was told that I had to stop dancing and I would never be a wide receiver on a co-ed football team again. I had no energy and when the doctor said that I would probably be wheelchair bound by 40 I felt my life was over, but...here I am at 51 and I'm still walking and I will continue to walk because thanks to research there are so many more alternatives now than there were 32 years ago. Today, as I'm writing this, I am lying in bed with my left foot in a special surgical shoe. I had my foot reconstructed and in December I'll have the other one done. Then it's on to my knees and hips for replacements. When they are all done with me I will be the bionic woman but I will be a walking bionic woman.

Thirty-two years ago all they could do was give me pain killers. Today, they can try alternative nutrition and vitamin programs, injectable drugs, and replacement surgery. There is so much they can do. The main thing is to always have a positive attitude. I have walked with canes and now with a walker and sadly this year I will not be able to be the "last one over the finish line" at the walk...in NY at Battery Park my friends at the Arthritis Foundation always wait for me to cross that finish line. This year I have to sit it out but next year I will have two great feet to walk with. My two children are 23 and 21. They have seen my ups and downs but they have never seen me give up. My daughter is making me a grandma this May...a little girl and I intend to be an active grandma...a youthful grandma. I will be around for a long time and I will be walking the entire time. I hope that anyone who reads this and who is suffering from any form of arthritis will take heart...believe that you can do anything. Your mind is your strongest tool. Never give up...my mantra is "I can do it...I believe in me.”