This is something I have been thinking of a lot lately. They are going to find a cure for FA. Of course, it can never be soon enough, but it will come. When they do I am going to be as ready as I can be emotionally, physically and spiritually. I eagerly anticipate a cure and try to do what I can to make it happen. I think it is going to be harder than I guess/anticipate.
For 30 years I have known I had a chronic disease. For twentyish years I have identified with and identified myself as a person with a physical disability. Chronic disease, disability, Jean Walsh [yes talking about myself in the third person ;)] are so inextricably intertwined right now. I am not my disease, but it is complicated. My sense of identity is, right now, married to chronic disease and disability. While disease and disability do not run my life, they are facts of my life. And to me, disease and disability have given me opportunities to be strong, pursue happiness and be giving that I might not have had otherwise. I feel like I am a better version of me because I have FA. Maybe I would be the resilient person I think I am now if I didn’t have FA ... something I’ll never know and is not, to me, worth much thought.

My name is Andrea and I live in Wichita, KS. As a freshman in high school, my gym teacher noticed that I was "extra" clumsy and uncoordinated while my class was doing a series of physical tests. She had the school nurse observe me during class and the nurse agreed. She called my mom and my mom took me to a neurologist.  Andrea & Ramada (aka the BEST service dog in the world)! After many tests, this neurologist told my mom that I had a virus and would be fine. A year later, my clumsiness and uncoordination kept getting worse, so my mom dragged me to another doctor.