I am Lisa and have been a patient with Morphea scleroderma for twenty-eight years. I first noticed it when I was seven years old. It started as a dry patch of skin on my right arm.

It took three years before I was diagnosed. I was put through a series of very unpleasant tests, all the while it was spreading through my body. The doctors insisted that it would burn itself out eventually, but it did not.

It spread very quickly into my right hand, leaving it bony and deformed. I was about eleven and terribly frightened as I thought it would keep spreading and I would never be able to go outside again and be a normal kid.

My mum and dad were desperate for help and tried to find a solution through the church, hypnosis and spiritual healing. The last two I did not bother with. I wanted to believe the doctors.

I will be thirty-five in a couple of months and although I am happily married with a ten year old healthy daughter, I am facing the prospect of losing my left hand to this disease. I am still scared. I still feel unable to cope at times. My hands feel frozen and painful and I dread winter. I go to occupational therapy when it gets really bad. The hot wax machine gives me a little relief, and have also tried those thermal hand warmers that you just shake.

I am not sure if I am just more sensitive than some but I have had a lot of pain with this. I really sympathize with everybody who is living with this.