Tag Archives: my story

National Chronic Invisible Illness Awareness Week was observed earlier this month. Over the years my illness has become more obvious to a casual observer, but from the early days of my chronic battle I poignantly remember the challenges posed by the mere fact that my illness was largely invisible. And because of those painful memories, I feel compelled to speak up for myself, for my friends, and for the many silent sufferers of invisible illness.

My very first diagnosis in my journey was Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (RSD/CRPS), a chronic neurological pain condition. At age 13 I still looked like the same happy, peppy, sassy Sarah Kate in my darling little Abercrombie skirt; but on the inside, I was fighting to deal with this new sensation of an ever-present burning flame that threatened to bring me to tears if only I would give into it.