Hi Friends and Family,

It's that time again that I get to share with you my scleroderma story and also my chance to tell you about our upcoming 8th Annual Scleroderma Walk, on Sunday, September 12 at William Land Park in Sacramento.

As most of you know,I have had scleroderma since I was 9 years old, which makes that 27 years.  The disease has primarily affected the right side of my body, wherein the muscles and tissues had severe atrophy that my leg and buttocks are half the size of my "normal" side.  You may have noticed the limp I have when I walk, and that's because it stunted the growth of my bones which caused my right leg to be shorter by almost an inch.  Scleroderma also made some damages in parts of my neck, arms, and trunk areas.  And most recently, the sweat glands in the right side of my face and head have also stopped working.  If you ever see me exercising or just sweating, please feel free to check out my face, its kind of interesting to see how only half of my face and hair will be covered in sweat and the other half is completely dry.  I also now have bald spots in my head that luckily I can still cover up.  This hair-loss condition is called alopecia areata, which is another type of auto-immune disease.  The most recent addition to my "resume" of diseases is the onset of this very painful digestive tract disease called diverticulitis.

Despite this long list of health issues, I'm glad that as of now my scleroderma seems to be in remission.  Since I got scleroderma so young, I was very conscious of my leg and was more accustomed to hiding my affected leg than showing it in public.  But I'm happy to share with you that I'm now becoming more comfortable and confident with myself in terms of wearing clothes that shows my scleroderma leg.  Dexter, my husband of 21 years has truly helped me find the courage and confidence I needed to get through this huge mental challenge.  My kids have also given me the strength to believe and hope and overcome any challenge I have or get.  And as the Past President of the Scleroderma Foundation Northern California Chapter and the Current Sacramento Support Group Leader, I have learned that we must always have a positive outlook in life and that we must focus on ways to live our lives as best as we could despite the challenges we are given.

I'm also very thankful to God for the love and care my friends and family has given me throughout the years.  Many of you have generously supported my fundraising efforts for the past 8 years now.  Thanks to your "cheerful and generous giving" I was able to exceed my fundraising goal of $5,000 last year.  I am also so thankful to those of you that made it to last year's walk.  I know that we are all so busy and so I can't even tell you enough how much it meant to me and my family to see your presence on our walk day.  Please know that I will never forget the kindness and generosity you have given me and that I truly am very grateful to have you in my life!

My loving husband is chairing the walk again this year, and I am very thankful for the love, time and effort he has put into this for the benefit of all those affected with scleroderma.  So I am dreaming big and hoping to exceed last year's success.  It never hurts to dream big, right?  Since it's our 8th annual walk, my big goal this year is to hopefully raise $8,000 and to have at least 80 of my friends and family to come out and walk with me on Sept 12.  This will help realize our mission of raising funds to find the cure and help raise the much needed awareness about this unknown and devastating disease.  I know that this may be a big goal, but I'm hoping and praying that with your help and generosity this will not be an impossible dream.

I thank you again for being a part of my life and I thank you also for accepting me for who I am despite what I have.  I truly truly appreciate your friendship, love and prayers.  And I thank you in advance for any help you can give.  Please remember that every bit helps and every bit will make a difference.  May God bless and reward you with His unending blessings!

Gratefully yours,

Theresa De Vega Parulan