Hi there, my name is Leslie and I'm 42 years old. I'm a native New Yorker, and my husband whom I've been married to for 21 years named Charlie is from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. We have 4 kids, who were all born in different states (Rebekah 20- S.C., Sarah 17- MO., Jonathan 15-N.C., and Benjamin 13-MI). My 86 y/o father-in-law Tony also lives with us, as well as our adorable 5 y/o black lab/mix named Coby (who is King of our house with his own couch and chair!). We live in a large Victorian 1800's farmhouse in Staten Island, a borough of New York City. Charlie is a Pastor. I was employed as a school nurse until I lost my job due to my illness. Currently I'm taking care of a kid that used to go to my school and his brother in Manhattan. I hope some day that I can return to a "real" nursing job.

3 years ago, while on vacation in Myrtle Beach, S.C., I became paralyzed and it's been challenging to find someone to figure out what's wrong with me since then. I've had many diagnoses: Guillian-Barre' syndrome, Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis, Carcinoid Cancer, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Fibromyalgia. I've been in and out of the hospital many times, and have been sick for what seemed like forever. There hasn't bee a doctor around who has been able to control my symptoms which continued to worsen: severe weakness, intense pain, debilitating insomnia, major flushing, and sweating, chest pains and most recently tachycardia. Not long ago, I found a doctor Manhattan who has been the first person to make some sense of my symptoms and give me a reasonable medical explanation for my illness... so I'm thankful for him and for the hope that I have with the treatment he is doing at this point.

I enjoy traveling, reading (when my brain wires actually are connecting), scuba diving (or at least I did when I was well), and going to our camper in rural NJ during the summer.

My 15 y/o son Jonathan has an illness called "pseudotumor cerebri" which is all the symptoms of a brain tumor without a tumor. Now my 13 y/o son is showing signs of it as well. Since November, Jonathan has had 5 shunt/brain operations, and just can't seem to get his brain back to normal. The added stress of family illness in addition to mine makes my symptoms much worse, and some days unbearable.

I am part of the "Sunshine" Friends Group. A website for people that deal with Chronic Pain, CFS, FM and a host of other medical problems. Although I'm not much of a "web ring" person, I have found them to be great people and have really come to enoy all of my new "Friends"!