Columns

This Year, I’m Running for Rare Diseases

New Year’s resolutions. Do you make them? Do you keep them? Are you still going strong? Or are you like the 75 to 80 percent of Americans who quit their resolutions by February?  I don’t make resolutions because I believe that change can happen regardless…

I’m Learning to Let People In

I recently started enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease at the children’s hospital where my son has been receiving the same treatment for a little over a year. The infusion days have been going well, aside from it taking up our entire day. However, I have struggled after…

How I Found My Road to Exercise

It’s 4:45 a.m. and the alarm is sounding.  What comes to mind when you read that sentence? Maybe something like sleep, dark, too early, nighttime, must be a siren coming from outside … did I mention “early”? For me, this alarm signals the time…

Facing Fears About Fabry After a Hospital Admission

In recent weeks I have had a traumatic medical experience that has affected me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I began to feel unwell three weekends ago and thought that I had been too busy and pushed myself too hard. That Sunday, I started running a fever. Having Fabry…

Walking a Mile in My Mother’s Shoes

They say you never truly know what someone else is going through until you walk a mile in their shoes. Let’s rewind to when I was growing up. Whenever I exerted myself through exercise or was sick with a fever (even a low-grade one), I had…

Learning to Make My Voice Heard

I have always been the type of person to go out of my way to make sure I don’t inconvenience others. Raised to stand on my own two feet, I prefer not to impose my feelings or needs on anyone else. But I have learned in the past year that…

Transitioning to Home Infusions: Expectation vs. Reality

I was amazed by all of the support available to us at the beginning of our treatment journey. We received phone calls to make sure we were managing our appointments and insurance paperwork. We got reminder emails and envelopes full of information in the mail. Our doctor and nurse…