My pity party didn’t last very long because walking and using my hands were not optional for me, as I was a full-time mother of two young daughters. I began to look at rheumatoid arthritis differently by accepting it as just one part of me rather than letting it define the sum of me.

I faced the first of what was to be many conundrums as a parent with a chronic illness: do I do what is best for me, or my child? What if what is best for him is actually worse for the family unit as it entails such a negative impact on me that I cannot care for him to the extent I otherwise could?