An Inspirational Athlete

Having RA can be a lonely experience. RA sufferers are a mere 1% of the US population, and we don't exactly congregate on our own little island. Because of that, many of us take to the Internet for support. I'm not sure what I would do without social media, especially on the particularly miserable days where life seems bleak. That's part of the reason why I started blogging about my experiences, and why I spend a lot of time each week reading about other RA patients.
There's a lot of advice out there. Don't run because it'll damage your joints. Just do some light walking. You won't be able to handle intense exercises. Rest a lot. It gives me the impression that people with RA should be lazy, or have no choice but to be lazy. I guess an even worse impression would be that people with RA should just accept that they're not like everyone else and can't accomplish the same things.

Then I somehow found myself reading Angela Durazo's blog, "I Am a Triathlete With RA." The tag line on her blog reads, "I refuse to be a victim," and she definitely isn't. According to the "About Me" section of her blog, Durazo is a model turned triathlete who trains 7 days a week. Her writing chronicles all of her struggles, from finding the right diet to being fitted for a bike that will help keep her pain-free during races. She writes about her agonizing trips to the Emergency Room as well as the physical deformities she's experiencing.

Durazo was pretty much unable to take care of herself when first diagnosed at 20 (which is around the age I got diagnosed). But unlike many (including myself), she didn't let her RA hold her back, because if she did, she probably wouldn't have graced the cover of the last issue of Arthritis Today:

Taken from Durazo's Blog
http://triathleteracingwithra.wordpress.com/

This is the person I strive to be, especially on days when I think I'll never be able to be my old self again. If only we could all have her mentality...