Hi Friends and Family,

First of all I want to thank you for giving me a moment of your precious time to read my scleroderma story.  I know that we all live in a very busy world where time flies by so quickly it's hard to keep up with.  I know its mind boggling for me sometimes to believe that we're now in 2011.  That's 10 years, past the tragic 9/11 where everyone's life changed one way or another.  A decade ago  was when we started this Northern CA Chapter, November 2001, and that brought a good change in me and my family's lives.  There was only a handful of us volunteers but we were blessed with very supportive family and friends.  We all had the honest passion and dedication to our foundation's mission that with only a few months of planning we were able to pull off our 1st Sacramento Scleroderma Walk in 2002.

With time flying by so fast, we are now just a few days from our 9th Annual Walk.  It will be this Sunday, 9/11 at William Land Park, registration starts at 9 am and walk begins at 10.  My high school sweetheart and very loving hubby of 17 years have dedicated himself in chairing our walk again this year.  Many thanks to Dexter and all the other dedicated volunteers that are making this walk possible again this year!

Growing up as a 9 year old and having a physical deformity was not easy, plus I also had to deal with the debilitating pain that came with it.  In case you haven't seen my right scleroderma leg (a view of it is in my 2010 walk picture), it is half the size of my normal leg and foot because of the skin, muscles and connective tissue atrophy slceroderma caused.  I also have atrophy in several places all over my body and my right leg is shorter by almost an inch.  As if this is not enough in my "health-resume", I have also been diagnosed with other rare stuff like alopecia areata, diverticulitis, raynauds syndrome and the newest one was horner's syndrome.  I was told that having scleroderma as my primary auto-immune disease makes my body susceptible in acquiring other auto-immune diseases as well.  If I had my way, I'd say enough already! 

But despite the many physical challenges in the 28 years of living with scleroderma, it was also hard mentally and emotionally.  When I was young I was very conscious about my leg.  I didn't really know how to explain my disease, but what I know was that I didn't want people to think I had a contagious skin disease.  I always feared that I wouldn't have any friends because I had scleroderma.  But now that I'm older, I realize that true friends and family will love you no matter what... it doesn't matter how you look, what you have or what you don't have, in two words --unconditional love!  With this love comes personal strength.  I am now able to wear clothes that show my leg, including shorts and tennis skirts that I have never even dreamt of wearing when I was younger.  I am now also very devoted in raising people's awareness about Scleroderma.  I am proud to say that even my children, Hannah and Jacob, are doing their share in raising awareness about mommy's disease.

This is another reason why my family and I do what we do for our walk and the Scleroderma Foundation.  I want to make a difference and make people with scleroderma feel they are not alone in this challenging scleroderma journey.  I felt alone at one point in my life but now I don't.  A very big thanks to each and every one of you that's in my life that has shown me so much love and support throughout the years.  I just can't thank you enough, but you truly have made a difference in my life!

I was a little weary in creating and sending out a webpage because I know many of us are in financial restrictions.  But I shared this with my good friend and she said as only a true friend would say.... "People have choices to make with their money and everyone understands that but for many people, supporting a cause that is important and directly affects a friend and a loved one is a priority and maybe a small way they can give back to support you for all the ways you support them.  And a way to pay tribute to the way you live your life and choose to fight scleroderma daily and educate others."  Needless to say, I was in tears and felt very much loved.  I also got very motivated and inspired to go ahead and continue with my personal mission of raising awareness and funds to find the cure for scleroderma.

I want to thank you with all my heart because by you reading my story you have already given me your support by helping me raise awareness about this rare disease.  Our walks have been very sweet and mellow and for the 2nd year now, we have it at William Land Park, which is such a beautiful walk for the entire family, even our four-legged family members.  It's also a lot of fun, cause we have raffle prizes, a few silent auction stuff, prizes for the top fast runner in adult and kids division, and so I am hopeful that you can join me and my family at our walk this Sunday if your schedule allows you to.  If you are able to walk with us on Sunday, you can register by simply donating through my page, just let me know if you are cause it will be so much fun to walk together as a group.  I know some of you have already pre-registered for the walk and I am truly grateful and excited that you're joining us.  But please know that you don't have to donate to join me on our walk day.  Your presence alone is a huge donation to our cause to raise much needed awareness about Scleroderma.

I truly want to thank you very much for your continued support and generosity to a cause that means so much to me and with all my heart, I thank each and every one of you for your friendship and unconditional love!

Sincerely yours,

Theresa De Vega Parulan