The Ambassador group is thinking of our friend and fellow Ambassador Tom Trovinger today and wishing him a speedy recovery. We can't wait for Tom to be back in our meetings; cracking sarcastic jokes and putting smiles on all our faces.

Read Tom's bio here.

So the topic of the day is how do I use the arts and creativity to help with Friedreich's Ataxia? Well I do so in many ways.

I have been drawing and painting from such a young age that I do not even remember. I did a lot of painting in my early twenties then for some reason put down my brushes. It was not until the summer of 2012 that I met a local artist that would inspire me more than I ever thought imaginable. His name was Bill Correira, otherwise known as BC Woo. Not only was he an amazing artist but just so happened do be a huge supporter of FARA! He had painted at the past two FARA Energy Ball events in Tampa. It was like it was meant for us to meet.

Where I live, in St. Petersburg, FL, we have a weekly art meet up outside where artists gather to create, share ideas, and inspire each other. We paint, draw, sculpt, anything, and just hang out together for a good time. I had gone as an onlooker for a few weeks until Woo got me talking and he found out I used to paint. Mind you, I had not held a paint brush in over 6 years, but he managed to convince me to pick one up again and told me I never stopped being an artist . I then spent a few days a week with him at his gallery just hanging out and painting again.

Here is the story of how I told family, friends and complete strangers that I have Friedreich’s Ataxia…

When I was diagnosed 11 years ago, my mother & father’s reaction was chaos. They researched as much about FA as they could and grasped for anything that could possibly help me live a “normal life.” But days turned into months, which turned into years and here I still am with FA which is progressively getting worse. So since there is no immediate concern it was replaced with “How are you doing?” once or twice a year. I have a large family so any questions about me were immediately directed towards my dad, so I never had the opportunity to inform them myself. I honestly believe that a few of my family members don’t even know what FA stands for or what it involves.

Telling my friends was difficult and to some quite easy. Difficult because some friends I told became distant to the point that we don’t converse anymore. I guess it was hard to deal with the facts and details of FA. But my “true” friends have stuck by me no matter what, and treat me like a person and not a disease. They ask questions and want to know details. They are my family. Social networking sites such as Facebook have really allowed me to inform everyone, to educate and have an understanding.

Last week FARA was notified of an opportunity to participate in a roundtable discussion about the US budget sequestration with Senator Bob Casey. Senator Casey has made it one of his top priorities to advocate for maximum National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for medical research so that NIH funding does not suffer (as much) from the sequestration process.

Elected officials are approached on a daily basis with statistics and pretty graphs that illustrate trends supporting all kinds of issues. However we were told today that it is the stories from individuals that people remember and work wonders in Washington. To that end, Senator Casey and his staff held this roundtable discussion to collect stories of the individuals who will be affected by NIH budget cuts so he can use the stories when he is fighting for these issues in Washington.