When living with a chronic illness, you're fighting basically everything on a daily basis. You fight your body - it never seems to work right.
You fight your mind - got to keep the negative thoughts away.
You fight society - it seems like no one believes you.
You fight your medicine - the side effects are killer.
You fight insurance companies - will they pay for that treatment?
You fight doctors - you know what you need, why won't they listen?
You fight yourself - you always feel alone.
But what I think is truly a fighter is someone who pushes past all of this. Someone who turns it all into good. Life throws them a bunch of crap and they treat it like they were handed their favorite candy. It never seems to phase them (on the outside.)
You know, recently I've noticed someone, and RSD friend, who is truly a fighter. She's absolutely amazing. Just from twitter, you can tell she is absolutely hilarious, and everyone seems to love her.
Who's that girl?
I met her last summer over twitter, around the same time I met most of my RSD friends. Abby is easily one of my dearest friends. Probably my most hilarious friend too. She seems so open about everything, and I just love talking to her.
When I started talking to Abby, she was going into her Junior Year of HS in Texas. She was on her school's basketball team. I remember her tweeting about it, and Instagramming pictures of her teammates saying they were her family and everything.
As 2013 approached, Abby's RSD seemed to start spiraling downwards. I remember getting twitter DMs and texts and such asking me and some of the other girls if we had ever experienced some of these symptoms. I hadn't.
I'm not 100% sure on how everything went down, but Abby was soon scheduled to do two weeks of Calmare Therapy in Dallas, TX. Calmare is supposed to be a promising treatment for nerve pain (RSD). I remember being so excited for her to get this treatment. It's something I've wanted to try for a long time. I prayed and prayed, and I know Abby's whole community did.
Long story short, the Calmare did not work out for Abby. The therapy worsened her condition. Not just "the pain's a little bit worse." No.
Going into Calmare, Abby could walk. Coming out of it, she described her mobility as being able to "shuffle short distances." After a while, she bought a wheel chair and is now, at 17, wheel chair bound.
But that's not stopping her. I've seen a lot of people saying they're wheel chair bound for life. How after they're in a wheel chair, they can no longer do what they love.
Not Abby.
"One door closes, another door opens. Even though I'm not able to play able body basketball, today I got a real glimpse at wheelchair basketball. I got to try out a sports chair and ball up with some wounded soldiers who are also still learning the game. It sucks not being able to play like I used to, but who knows, this could lead to something bigger."
Does that alone not sound like a fighter?
She can't play able body basketball, but i'm sure she'll end up winning everything in wheelchair basketball. And I can't wait to see where it takes her. God's got something big in store for this girl. I can feel it.
You know, a lot of things in life can bring you down. Relationships, family, money... illness.... But you can't let it stop you. Abby really inspires me that way. She has so much going on in her world, so much has changed in the last year that even I have known her. She went from running down the court to rolling down the court. but that doesn't seem to change her spirit.
Abby seems like one of the most genuinely nice and caring people out there. She has great humor, obviously loves God, and definitely loves her friends and family (I think it might be love-hate with her sister......) and is an all around great person.
Not too many people genuinely inspire me. It takes a lot in my world. (May sound harsh, but it's true...) Abby is, hands down, one of the biggest inspirations to me.
It's kind of weird watching someone else fight the same disease. You know how they feel on the inside, but everyone fights it differently on the outside. I hope one day I can fight it as well as Abby does. In my world, she's the epitome of a fighter.