We are the courageous!!

Yes, no matter how we feel, we just keep on with our daily lives in spite of whatever comes our way. There may be times when we complain, cry and cope with depression but we don't give up.

We probably know how to accomplish more tasks in days when the pain and fatigue seem almost unbearable than the average "normal" person would even begin to comprehend.

We struggle through our jobs because we have to, while suffering. We take care of our families even when the strength to do so is almost non-existent. We bear with family members who don't seem to understand.

We are plagued with cutting remarks by ignorant people who think they have the "right answers". We experiment with remedies and modern drugs and at times feel like we ourselves have become experiments of the medical profession.

There are some of us who are almost totally incapacitated but let faith in God sustain us and allow patience to become our golden virtue.

It is not those who chase a pigskin down a field or throw a ball through a hoop, the modern day entrepreneurs or superstars of stage and screen who are worthy of special honor for their "achievements".

Rather it is those who daily, through great adversity in mind and body, press on to live and love and in hope await a promise of relief.

Remember, though at times you may not feel like one of the "Courageous", you are indeed!

Randy J. Schum
Orlando, Florida

This was written by one of the people on the online support group, "Clouds."

The poem is beautiful, and I think it is a wonderful thing to share with everyone who suffers from this invisible disease. Sometimes the frustrations of day-to-day life seem so huge, and we forget how we are courageous in our lives. We have to be, just to live.

Fran