I am a mother and wife first, and a patient with Ankylosing Spondylitis second.  Even though I have AS I am so blessed.  The Lord has given me so many wonderful things in my life, so the positive definitely outweighs the negative!  I have a wonderful husband, who is also my soul-mate and best friend of 13 years (we got married at 19!), and two gorgeous kids.  I lost my mother to breast cancer in 2000, when she was 45.  I miss her so much, and to add to the loss, both my husband’s parents passed away recently as well.  It is hard raising two kids, while having a disability, and not having much family support.  I am blessed to have my father here with us, and he is a wonderful grandfather to my kids.  After I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis I felt like I had finally found my purpose on Earth…I was meant to be an AS Activist, and I take that very seriously.  I hope I can not only teach the world what living with AS is about, but I hope I can help others like me deal with the toll it takes on not only our bodies, but our souls. So with this blog, I hope you can get to know me, my goals, and more about AS. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave feedback, good or bad!  My backbone is fused, and I am not afraid to use it!