Seeing Light and Shadows in Groundhog Day and RA

February 2, 2013April 20, 2019 Kelly O'Neill 2 Comments Guest post on RA Warrior, Inspiration for living with RA

TODAY, February 2nd,is the first Rheumatoid Awareness Day. Read more below about how you can be involved.

Amateur actress shares Groundhog Day’s special place in her heart

My sweet friend Steph, one of the bright treasures that I have gained from living with this disease, sent me a story in an email yesterday. I’ll hope you’ll enjoy it as a follow up to the Pursuit of Happyness post yesterday.

Just a funny note. Groundhog day has a warm place in my heart, so to see it as even more special is ironic to me. When I was in 1st grade. I got the bug to be an actress. My first play was about the holidays through out the year.

Oh I wanted to be Miss Valentine. She would wear a beautiful dress and have bows in her hair. She would read a poem about love!!

But alas it was not to be. I was chosen to be the Groundhog. I wore a long gown that was yellow on half and black on the other half. I had a dunce cap that was dark and light. I carried a flashlight and read a funny poem.

I was so disappointed. It is kind of like how I feel about RA now. I still dream of the beautiful dress and bows, but that is not how it played out for me. I still do community theater but do a lot of character parts and really have fun with them.

So maybe that is how I should think of my RA. It is not the beautiful dress and bows, but the dark and light gown with a dunce cap. Sometimes it is light, but sometimes it can be very dark. Though it will never be the beautiful colors of the red and white dress, it still has its bright days.

Note: For Rheumatoid Awareness Day, many are writing letters to media or representatives, or creating local activities. You don’t need to go anywhere to participate! Read here and here about how you can be involved and make a difference. Today, February 2, there will be a Twitter chat at 7 p.m. EST here. This is just the beginning – subscribe to this blog and rheum4us.org for reports on the days’ activities.

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Kelly O'Neill

Kelly O'Neill (formerly Kelly Young) has worked about 12 years as an advocate helping patients to be better informed and have a greater voice in their healthcare. She is the author of the best-selling book Rheumatoid Arthritis Unmasked: 10 Dangers of Rheumatoid Disease. Kelly received national acknowledgement with the 2011 WebMD Health Hero award. She is the president of the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation. Through her writing and speaking, she builds a more accurate awareness of rheumatoid disease (RD) aka rheumatoid arthritis (RA) geared toward the public and medical community; creates ways to empower patients to advocate for improved diagnosis and treatment; and brings recognition and visibility to the RA patient journey. In addition to RA Warrior, she writes periodically for newsletters, magazines, and websites. There are over 60,000 connections of her highly interactive Facebook page. You can also connect with Kelly on Twitter or YouTube, or LinkedIn. She created the hashtag: #rheum. Kelly is a mother of five, longtime home-schooler, NASA enthusiast, and NFL fan. She has lived over fourteen years with unrelenting RD. See also https:/rawarrior.com/kelly-young-press/

2 thoughts on “Seeing Light and Shadows in Groundhog Day and RA”

Deb Wilden
February 2, 2013 at 11:06 am
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So Thankful for this site and all that it does for those of us trying our hardest to get well!
Deb Wilden
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Deb Wilden
February 2, 2013 at 11:30 am
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Thank You Kelly !!!!!
Deb Wilden
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