My name is Kristen and I am 37 years old. I have am married and I have one daughter who will be turning 18 soon. We live in Louisiana where our summers are hot and so are our winters. I am currently living with a number of illnesses/conditions and at times I use a mobility aid. My illness has robbed me of my career, my independence, and my life. I went from an active wife and mother to someone who uses a walker to get around their home. I went from never missing a single school function for my daughter to missing everything. I decided to start blogging while staring at an accumulation of pages of things I had been writing while trying to distract myself from the pain and isolation and depression that has come with being chronically ill. I wanted to share some of my experiences and offer advice and information to people looking for support or having a hard time reaching out. If it helps just one person feel a little more confidant with living with their disability then to me, all of the sharing was worth it. While reading my blog I hope you will learn how to cope with the many challenges you face while living with your disability. I will share what resources, tools and products that I have found helpful and those I have found not so helpful. I will also touch on topics like: reaching out to friends and family, how to talk about your illness, depression, how to ask for help and taking charge if your life, just to name a few and I will share information and resources for friends and family of the chronically ill regarding how they can help their loved ones.
