I will begin telling you about myself by saying that I am a Christian. God�s love for me, and my love and strong belief in Him has been my saving grace. It is His grace has gotten me through these past ten years. Let me continue by saying that I was blessed with one natural child, my son Steven, now twenty-eight years old, and two step children, Michael and Kimberly, both in their thirties, and three absolutely wonderful step-grandchildren. I love them as if they were my own. If ever asked what one thing I felt I excelled in, I would have to say Motherhood! They truly are the light of my life. I am also blessed with a wonderful Mother and Brother who reside in the same city as I do, they are very supportive of me in every way.

I began by telling you that my strong faith in God got me through the last ten years of my life, but did not tell you why. In 1993, I was diagnosed with COPD. Since I was only 43 years old at the time, the physicians felt I surely had the inherited form, but much to my dismay and theirs, it was from smoking, a terrible habit I had been engaging in for more that 20 years. I am divorced so unfortunately I have no caregiver, but in addition to my faith in God, I have my children and grandchildren, Mother and Brother and my many friends as my support system. Even though they live out of state, their frequent visits are the highlight of my life. The many crosses I�ve had to bear would have been impossible without their love and support. I am currently going through the process of attempting to be placed on the transplant list for a set of new lungs. God willing, I will have these new lungs in a couple of years.

I joined a COPD online support group three years ago, and have been blessed by meeting so many wonderful people. They have added tremendously to my support system. With this group, I am never alone with my problems. In fact, I had been invited to join a program within the list called "SOS Smiles of Sunshine". I am now one of the Co-leaders and enjoy sending cards and letters to uplift others on the list that are not doing so well. Once again, I have been blessed to have them in my life. To visit our Web Site click here.

My hobbies are needlepoint, crocheting, computers, and I am an avid reader. My needlepoint and crocheting projects such as afghans, I donate to our church for raffles to help raise money for our parish. I have a great love of computers, and have found them vitally useful in my research on my disease. I spend endless hours in my research and in communicating with my new friends. I would be very interested in hearing from any one of you about your thoughts on this horrid disease and any ways to combat it.