NF Survivor - Susie Williams

Susie Williams' Survivor Story

My name is Susie Williams and I am a NF survivor. My husband and I moved to Kissimmee, FL from the beautiful state of Vermont because my husband is 60 years old and wanted to be settled in a place upon retirement. So August 1, 2006 we started out and got into our new home on August 11, 2006. With the extreme temperature change from Vermont to Florida and the unpacking and getting settled I was feeling like I was getting a cold so I just past it off. Finally my husband said lets go to the walk in clinic up the street, this was the first of November. I remember the doctor asking me to open my mouth and he saw white spots on my throat. He was not sure if it was strep or what it was. In the mean time he had his receptionist call for an ambulance. I remember getting into the ambulance and driving to the Kissimmee Hospital. For 28 days after that I do not remember anything, I awoke in the hospital and was told I had NF which meant nothing to me. Than my husband told me what it was. The first of December I was moved to another hospital and was hooked up to 3 vacs, IV's and had to stay in bed. I started therapy and was able to get up out of bed and walk a little each day. The first day I was up to walk my mother and oldest sister was down. It felt so good to get out of bed and just walk from the bed to the chair outside my room. Each day Monday to Friday I walked. My husband worked around the corner from the hospital and came to see me before he went to work. Thank God for my husband because I do not think I would be here today if it was not for him. I went home on January 19, 2007 and my wounds are on the mends. This was not the way I wanted to spend my first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year in sunny Florida, but I am alive and am looking at life differently. Thank God for my family they were all down at different times and I think I have become close to them, I have felt sorry for myself thinking why God has given this terrible disease to me but seeing and reading the other survivors stories and seeing some of their pictures I have nothing to feel sorry for. Hope everyone gets better and hope they can find a cure for this terrible disease. Thank you.

Susie Williams
susanw53386@earthlink.net
Kissimmee, FL USA
April 2007

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