One woman's remarkable story of her fight to survive the crippling disease Mastocytosis She tells us how she copes from day-to-day and her amazing ability to close down some of her body's organs during severe bouts of the disease which is brought on by stress, shock, anxiety or exertion. She goes on to tell us how, when the severity subsides, she uses the power of the mind to its full extent and pulls herself back, without the aid of sophisticated medical equipment. Join Pat on her 'Determined to Survive' roller-coaster of life, sharing the good times and the bad, the happy times and the sad. There are sure to be moments of laughter yet often a tear in your eye as you experience Pat's life with her.

Mastocytosis
A Rare Disease

by Pat Reece

I have suffered from this disease we now know, since childhood.  I always had problems after food and as a teenager I often fell asleep after eating, just where I was sitting.  It still happens and food literally 'knocks me out' sometimes.  As a child, I often suffered from joint pains particularly in my knees.  I still do but over the years it has extended to my spine and hips.  I had skin problems too as a child, which have remained to this day and have become worse along with the escalation of this disease.

Circumstances throughout my life, which caused me ongoing stress plus emotional shocks over the years, only served to escalate the disease, eventually to a life threatening stage.  Three years ago I almost lost my life.

Other trigger factors are exertion and the shocks I have suffered from surgery many times.  Eventually, as it all worsened, I found that I had the ability to 'close down' some of my body's organs after any of the above factors and then resume their function myself without medical aid and I have done this many, many times.  These organs are my digestive system, my kidneys and my colon.

However, three years ago I 'gave up' and decided to allow my body to die.  I had been literally keeping it alive with the forty-four pills a day that I have to take.  At the time I was under severe emotional stress coupled with shock, which brought out another shock that had been buried for twenty-two years and of which I had never come to terms with.  I was very ill and yes I almost died but I decided that I didn't want to die yet and I literally 'brought myself back'.

My specialist of seventeen years asked me to write my story to maybe help other people suffering some of the symptoms that I suffer because although my condition is unusual, the symptoms are not and some or all are suffered by many other people.  These are:-  Hiatus Hernia, Oesophagitis, Gastric Stomach, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Fluid Retention, Arthritis, Severe Headaches and Migraines, Asthma, Eczema and Food Allergies, to name a few.  They are all there in my story!.  I really do suffer them all but classed together they come under the heading of Mastocytosis which is a disorder of the Mast Cells.

Research is going on in the States in an attempt to find a cure but to me they should look first at the cause because the cure is within ourselves and the worst culprit is stress.  But also a trauma, maybe many years before, has been found to be a trigger factor of this multiple symptom disease.

I have recently been in the United States of America for almost three weeks and attended a conference for a few days about the disease where I was able to discuss it with doctors who were present.  I also met other sufferers and even though I would not wish this illness on anyone, it was nice to be able to talk with people who were in the same position as myself.

My story however is not a dismal one - far from it!  I look at everything in a humorous manner, yes even illness, and maybe this is what has kept me going for so long.  There is humour in my story as well as sadness and at times despair, whilst I searched for answers to my condition.  This is why I decided to feature a roller-coaster on the front cover of my book.  That's what my life has been like, living on a roller-coaster both before and after my illness kicked in.

Despite often being unwell, I have enjoyed writing my story.  Writing a book, be it non-fictional or otherwise, is something that you have to be dedicated to....and I was.

Pat Reece 
26 October 2002

'Determined to Survive' by Pat Reece is published by Pegasus/Vanguard and is available now from all good bookstores including W. H. Smiths or it can be ordered online through http://www.amazon.co.uk

The book can also be ordered from any good bookshop by quoting the title and its ISBN 1 843860 26 0