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NB: Dermatomyositis

At first it was hard but I have learned to accept this illness.

I was diagnosed with dermatomyositis in 2001, just a few months after I had my baby. My life has changed in a good and bad way. I am learning to live life to the fullest as if it was the last day of my life.

At first it was hard, but I have learned to accept this illness. I am twenty-eight years old with a four-year-old girl who gave me the will to live when I wanted to give up. I lost all my hair in just a few weeks. Then I gained a lot of weight. My face and the skin on my whole body looked like someone who had been buried for two weeks.

I just knew then that my child's father would leave me, but he stood by my side and later became my husband even when I thought I looked like a monster.

Life is very painful for me every day I wake up, but the Lord is on my side so I must have faith.

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ISN Artist: Ione Bridgman

ISN Artist Ione Bridgman created original artwork to illustrate this page. She is 90 years old, and lives in New Zealand. Her lovely paintings illustrate many of our pages and the covers of our Voices of Scleroderma Book Series.

ISN Story Editor: Judith Thompson Devlin

Judith Thompson Devlin is the ISN Story Editor for this story. She is also lead editor of the ISN's wonderful Voices of Scleroderma book series!

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