Why It's Important for Me to Walk, Even in Agonizing Pain

Dear Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS),

There’s no other way to say this to you: You are a monster.

But over the nearly 15 years that I’ve had to battle you, I’ve been the warrior, not you!

You tried to take away my teen years with your vice-gripping pain, but I fought back, and ran and figure-skated again. You tried to make my college years a living hell by making my body feel like it had been doused in gasoline, and a match lit… but again I fought back, and ran a half marathon in your honor.

You’ve been making my mid/late 20s an uphill battle that I’m tired of fighting, yet I’m still fighting against the most horrific monster I’ve come across, because monsters should never get to win.

I walk in Central Park, NYC every June with other CRPS warriors who just want you to disappear. We walk to raise money to find a cure for you. We walk through your agonizing pain, just so one day, no one will have to walk in agony.

One day, CRPS, and I am positive of this, you will be doused in water, and your fire will go out, never again able to hurt me or my friends. Be prepared for this, CRPS, because MY time is coming… my time to put out the flames, and win over the monster that you are, forever.

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