I have a beautiful daughter. She has a smile that lights up the room and green eyes that remind me of the ocean. Mandy is even more beautiful inside. She radiates love and goodness to everyone around her, so you feel happy just sitting near her. She is a warrior who fights all inequities and wrongs she finds in the world. She is gifted and her mind awes me with the ability to see in ways I can't even imagine.
My daughter also suffers from juvenile Fibromyalgia. This disease struck fast and hard. She fights to do things that other people do with no thought at all. They can get up from a chair to go to their next class. Often, Mandy can't because her legs have stopped working. While other kids are dancing, playing, or doing sports, Mandy's hands have frozen up and she can't get them to write anymore so she can do her homework.
Mandy was going to school online, but wanted to go back to a regular school because she missed her friends. She is so loving and sweet, she makes friends easily. However, as soon as they ask her to come over and play or go to a party or go out on a group date, she is an outsider. She can't count on her body to do what she needs it to do and is afraid of it happening to her in a strange place. She uses all of her energy trying to go to school each day and has nothing left once she gets home. She can't make plans with her friends because she never knows how she will feel that day. This is hard for a fifteen-year-old to deal with.
