 |  | | Athena Elton — Ottawa, ON |
| | | Seven years ago, a 21-year-old man was going into cardiac arrest for no apparent reason. He was transferred from hospital to hospital while doctors looked for a reason for his illness. He was a football player and seemingly so healthy, and tanned; it was impossible to believe he was dying. Rare disease specialists could not diagnose his condition.
Luckily, a nurse had a personal interest in his case and searched her textbooks until she was able to diagnose him with Addison’s disease. Unfortunately, the doctors refused to believe her, and he had to slip into crisis before they tested and treated him for Addison’s disease.
The nurse in this story is my sister and the young man is my brother. Four years later, I could not walk up a flight of stairs without having to catch my breath. I was thin as a rail and dark as a bran muffin. Sound familiar? My doctor kept treating me for a kidney infection that just wouldn’t go away. After suffering for several months with a recurring "kidney infection", my brother diagnosed me with Addison’s disease. After confirming the diagnosis with an endocrinologist, my personal experience of living with Addison’s disease began.
I think these kinds of stories are familiar to all of us reading this Newsletter. We need to have more support from the medical community, and to get this support we need to educate medical practitioners about Addison’s disease. We also need support on how to live with our condition and how to control our medications. With a condition as rare as Addison’s disease, it is easy to believe you have to suffer alone. There is fatigue, and then there is "Addisonian" fatigue. On-line chat groups and meetings with an endocrinologist once a year do not suffice; we need the community of others who share our experiences.
The Canadian Addison Society is an excellent organization to help fulfill our needs as people with Addison’s disease. The Society’s mandate is to support people with Addison’s disease and other associated adrenal gland diseases, by distributing information, and providing the opportunity to meet with other people who share the same condition.
I cannot express the personal benefits I have experienced from talking with other members of the national Society, and meeting with members in my former chapter of the Society in Eastern Ontario. For this reason, I would like to give back to the Society by taking on the responsibilities of President. I look forward to working with the membership and the Board of Directors to continue the amazing and inspirational work of Greeta McKague and Joan Southam.
Greeta and Joan, thank you, thank you, thank you.
| | | Return to List of Personal Experiences... |
| |  |
|
|
|
