Progress And Purpose

November 1st. Oh someone please tell me where this year has gone? I remember my New Years resolution was to be in tip-top shape by my 34th birthday on August 1. I figured if Heidi Klum can have a baby and walk the Victoria's Secret runway 8 weeks later I could do it in 8 months. Well we all know how that one turned out... Not only was I NOT on the road to hard-bodied perfection, I spent my actual birthday in the hospital doped up on narcotics and pumped up on steroids having just survived two strokes. But pay attention to the last part of that...having just survived. I was sent home to resume normal life cracked-out on Prednisone and emotionally raw from yet another life-threatening hospitalization. That first week I sent myself into a frenzied panic in reaction to the high dose steroids and induced a headache (the strokes came in the form of headaches) that put me on supervised do nothing "watch" by my mother and husband. Oh I had such a hard time adjusting to this one! I returned to work a month later only to quit after two days, my traveling makeup artist position proving too physical, too hard for me to take. I could not fathom my life was spared, brain intact and functioning, to put myself right back into the situations I had always existed in. I did not have a very good track record...4 Pancreatitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and now 2 Strokes. No, I pretty much decided I was not worthy of being in charge of my life anymore and gave my control away, gave myself completely and wholly to God.

I went public with my "private" blog and attracted quite a bit of attention! For some reason people really liked reading my writing! I made lots of Fibro-friends on Facebook and things kept growing, the momentum kept building. Then my personal page became The Fibro-Fun House because we had a zany knack for laughing through our pain; humor, respect and compassion the qualities that united us all. Then that got too big and The Fibromyalgia Fun House was born. Now she is rockin' and rollin', my blog is at over 17,000 hits and I have devoted my passion, my purpose, my cause to a Fibromyalgia awareness campaign called The Fibromyalgia Crusade. I have been brainstorming up a storm and my ideas and plans are slowly coming to fruition. My life is about so much more than I ever fathomed it could possibly be about. I have met some of the most amazing people these last few months and am so grateful for the opportunity to lay down Leah's plan for her life and pick up the true purpose I was created for. This is so much bigger than me! As I was musing to my best friend on the phone the other day, I am fulfilling the purpose that was started long ago when my parents were gettin' busy and God put my soul into that embryo.

The Fibromyalgia Crusade is about to unleash on the world. And living with Fibromyalgia is never going to be the same again! It starts right here, with us, right now. I have been getting requests for a way to donate to the cause and it will be coming...everything just takes a little longer with us Fibrates! I am revealing our Mission Statement, our statement of purpose, how we are going to effect that change. I am counting on all of you to ride this wave to shore, jump on the bandwagon, march in the parade, and force the world to finally listen to a bunch of pissed-off people in pain sick and tired of not being treated with the dignity and respect we deserve. So no, I am no closer to looking like Heidi Klum than I was on January 1st, but think what is happening here trumps that any day!

Mission Statement
United We Stand
To present a united front and stand strong as one collective patient body diagnosed with Fibromyalgia Syndrome. We accept the "cause" is medically unknown at this time and there may be a cluster of illnesses sharing similar symptoms residing under this diagnosis. Working with that knowledge, we will not accept being treated as though this is "all in our head" or we are crazy, lazy, wimpy or junkies. We are suffering real pain from a real illness and demand respect from those we know, recognition from the medical community and results in managing our symptoms and quality of life.

Thanks for joining,
Leah