My Dear Friend Renoir: a Poem on Life with RA | Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior

My Dear Friend Renoir: a Poem on Life with RA

This poem is one reader’s sentiment about fighting Rheumatoid Arthritis after the model of Renoir.

Oil paint palette

by Eveira Prados

What a shame I felt and I still feel,
When the contemplation of quitting invaded my mind.
Thoughts that keep telling me,
“What a mess!”
“Is this real?”
“How am I going to survive?”

I took the liberty to write to you this humble letter,
My dear friend Renoir
To tell you my story,
And talk about your art.

One grey day,
While appreciating the beauty of your amazing art,
During one enlightened moment,
Right there and then,
Astonished I realized,
My dear friend Renoir;
That you, the master of artists,
Great virtuoso from the start,
Like me suffered from the same illness,
But in your case unfortunately,
It turned really bad.

Upon that educational second,
My dear friend Renoir.
I promised myself, to make time for me and my tiny world.
I promise I will draw,
I promise I will teach,
I promise I will write,
I promise I will play with my girls.
I promise that RA will not take the best of me,
It will not take my time and determination.
I WILL enjoy what I love and prioritize nothing else!

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Kelly Young

Kelly Young is an advocate providing ways for patients to be better informed and have a greater voice in their healthcare. She is the president of the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation. Kelly received national acknowledgement with the 2011 WebMD Health Hero award. Through her writing, speaking, and use of social media, she is building a more accurate awareness of Rheumatoid disease aka Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) geared toward the public and medical community; creating ways to empower patients to advocate for improved diagnosis and treatment; and bringing recognition and visibility to the Rheumatoid patient journey. In 2009, Kelly created Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior, a comprehensive website about RA of about 950 pages and writes periodically for other newsletters and websites. Kelly served on the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media Advisory Board. There are over 42,000 connections of her highly interactive Facebook Fan page. She created the hashtag: #rheum. Kelly is the mother of five, a home-schooler, Bible teacher, NASA enthusiast, and NFL fan. You can also connect with Kelly by on Twitter or YouTube, or LinkedIn. She has lived over nine years with unrelenting Rheumatoid disease. See also http://www.rawarrior.com/kelly-young-press/

7 thoughts on “My Dear Friend Renoir: a Poem on Life with RA

  • August 16, 2011 at 6:25 am
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    Hi Kelly! The poem’s encouraging & inspiring. True that we shouldn’t let RA get the best of us. 🙂

    God bless always! 😀

    Reply
  • August 16, 2011 at 1:46 pm
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    Love the poem, it brought ters to my eyes as I read it, thanks for having it for us to read. I really needed that today to read, cause RA will not take me from me,God Bless

    Reply
  • August 17, 2011 at 4:01 am
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    Loved the poem, and I also refuse to let RA wreck me and my life. That is why I am willing to take prednisone, even though I know it’s not ideal, the bene’s outweigh the consequences at this time. Why? – because I can be a grandma to my lovely Freya, pick her up and carry her, rock her to sleep and play peek a boo. I refuse to be a hands off grandma because of RA. The two biologic’s I’ve tried have done nothing for me but make me feel worse. I will not go through trying ten of them, while my life floats by without me.

    Reply
  • August 17, 2011 at 11:15 am
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    Love love love it. RA will not take the best part of me!!

    Reply
  • May 24, 2013 at 1:44 pm
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    I am honor and excited to see that my poem has reached other! R.A. is a condition that is silent and cruel, but we are lucky to be born in this time of history in which we have access to so many medicines that can pause the progression of the condition. Do not give up! Keep fighting!

    Reply
  • Pingback: My Dear Friend Renoir: a Poem on Life with RA | Lovely Joints

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