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Thursday, February 19, 2009
Cheri Fleming talks to Jim Giggins about the Arthritis Walk - Six Flags
| Walk with Us at Magic Mountain on May 3rd |
| When you’re only 29 years old, you’re not supposed to have arthritis. But when the knuckles in my hands started swelling and I couldn’t do simple every day things, like open a jar of peanut butter—I knew something was drastically wrong. At first I was in serious denial, but when the swelling didn’t go down, I made an appointment for a physical. A simple blood test confirmed my fear—I had rheumatoid arthritis. When you’re diagnosed that young, you wonder what your future will bring. For many years, I smiled through my pain and managed my arthritis with anti-inflammatory drugs and a positive attitude. But as I got older, and the damage was progressively getting worse, I decided to seek out a rheumatologist that I trusted to help me. Dr. Fan and his associate, Dr. Lee, along with the amazing advances in research in treating this disease, changed my life. I now inject myself once a week with ENBREL. For me, that means that I can do everyday things like open a car door, brush my teeth, get dressed, and drive my beautiful MDX. However, they did advise me that nothing will ever mop up or reverse the damage that’s already been done. Unfortunately in the fall of 2006, once again, I thought something could be drastically wrong. When I was putting on my mascara, my head would click out of place. I made an appointment to see Dr. Lee, and he and Dr. Fan, advised me that I could have an AA subluxation—a slippage of my C-1 and C-2 in my cervical spine, damage from many prior years of my RA. An MRI confirmed the diagnosis and I made an appointment with a neuro surgeon for a consultation. Boy, I didn’t like what he told me. I needed surgery, and I needed it now!! The next day, we made an appointment with another neuro surgeon and he confirmed everything. I had a major volunteer commitment in the next 30 days, so he let me schedule surgery for November 6th 2006. I woke up 6-7 hours later with a huge neck brace on. Two days later, when they tried to get me out of bed, I couldn’t walk. My worst fear came true—one of the screws had severed one of the arteries in my spine and the result was a stroke in my cerebellum, and I had to learn to walk again. The amazing support of family, friends, fellow Soroptimists, and my employees at the dealership pulled me through that. A month later I was walking with a walker and then a cane. Thirteen weeks later, I lost my neck brace, went through physical therapy, and today my neck doesn’t click out of place and I’m really glad I had that surgery. I’ve been a member of Soroptimist International of Santa Clarita Valley for 10 years, and I currently have the honor of serving as the Governor of Camino Real Region. Our region service project this biennium is The Burden of Women’s Arthritis, and I’m so excited that my fellow Soroptimist members will be joining this important cause. As a Soroptimist, our mission is to improve the lives of women and girls in local communities and throughout the world. If I can walk in the Arthritis walk, I know you can, too. Please come join me and my fellow members of Soroptimist International - Camino Real Region. We’re walking at Magic Mountain inside the park and it will be a wonderful, fun, family day. Together we can make a difference—together we can find a cure! Walk with Us at Magic Mountain on May 3rd, 2009. Registration begins at 7:00 A.M. Click on the link below to see Cheri's interview with Jim Giggins. |
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