Just had an OpEd Piece Published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer..

[WCGreen]

I use to write for a weekly in Cleveland that went belly up and before that I had published a few Op Ed's in the Plain Dealer....

It has been about two years since I had anything in print....


http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/othercolumns/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1124789614156910.xml&coll=2

[BQueen]

1. Congratulations on getting in print

I'm sorry to read of your condition, though. I got sidelined by PTSD and Fibromyalgia at about 35, so I know from trying to explain an "invisible" disability (that's when the stares begin for me, along with the frequently overt statements that I must be a malingerer)...and dealing with hearing and using the word "retired" at an early age.

I'm glad you're able to get at least part of your life back, and I hope you continue to get published.

[WCGreen]

2. Thank You

[jimshoes]

3. Hope you're feeling OK

Congrats on getting to print.

[WCGreen]

7. Mush Better. i am even going to the march in September...

[NJCher]

4. causes?

Did the docs give you any idea of the causes? Could it be the poor quality of the air in the U.S.?

I, too, am sorry you're having to go through this but it sounds like you've learned to manage it.


Cher

[WCGreen]

8. When I was a child....

I contracted a lung infection that was not properly treated. Over the years, it was masked by other infections that were treated and so the underlying infection was never cured.....

It is rare condition now adays since the advent of antibiotics.

[GOPFighter]

5. Well done!

I nice, light-hearted treatment of what must a very frustrating condition. After reading your op-ed I has left admiring your writing and having a new understanding of those with hang tags who have no visible disability.

:applause:

[papau]

6. Congrats on getting through the gate - and on writing a nice piece!

:toast:

:-)

[petgoat]

9. Congratulations, Christopher! That piece is really snappy!

I'm sorry about your illness. Hang in there--as science advances,
you'll probably outlive the disease.

Can you give us the text of page 2? PD wants my zipcode and year of
birth (and no doubt my IP address too) and I just don't like that kind
of stuff.

[WCGreen]

10. here it is....

I started to park in the spots marked for the disabled. But since my affliction is not visible, I would get these looks from people, like I was using my dad's hanger just to get close in. So you know what I did? I started to fake a limp just so I wouldn't get the stare.

I gave the new lifestyle a real try, but after a while I just couldn't handle it. So I did what every red-blooded American male usually does when faced with a health problem, I charged full force. I thought I could beat my condition by grabbing at life. I told myself that I just needed to get back to being "normal."

I started working with my clients again. I took on new accounting jobs. But on Memorial Day 2004, not five months after this ground-breaking decision, I was in Fairview Hospital, close to death. I learned I was never "normal" and trying to be normal would kill me.

On July 4, 2004, I was emancipated.

I came home weaker than you can imagine, starved for sleep and attached for life to an oxygen tank.

But I was alive.

And changed.

The good news is that through exercise, watching my diet and monitoring my health, I can lead a fairly active life, just not normal in the everyday sense of attacking the American Dream with a vengeance.

Oh, and another thing. Now that I have my oxygen tank with me, no more staring when I park in the handicapped spot. No more limping. I am truly liberated.

Green, a self-employed accountant, lives in Westlake.

[petgoat]

11. Thanks, Christopher. Good work! Congratulations! n/t

[WCGreen]

12. thank you very much....

It's great to share a moment of success