Lene Andersen

Health Interests

Rheumatoid arthritis,  fibromyalgia

Drugs I am Taking

Humira

About Me

Lene Andersen is a writer and photographer living in Toronto, Canada.

Lene was born and raised in Denmark.  She has had rheumatoid arthritis since she was four years old and spent much of her childhood in and out of hospitals. 

After moving to Canada in the early 1980s, Lene spent the decade of big hair going to school a lot, eventually emerging with a master's degree in social work and a desire to change the world.  She has worked in the healthcare field, corrections and human rights and equal opportunity, where she specialized in disability and accessibility issues.  Lene has also volunteered with The Arthritis Society and served on the boards of directors of disability and legal advocacy groups, as well as tenant and community councils.

After a serious flare in 2004, Lene started Enbrel and believes it gave her a second chance at life.  When faced with the question of what to do for the rest of that life, Lene chose to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a writer.  She writes a regular column for The Desert Woman, received runner-up in a memoir contest by the Canadian magazine Homemakers and was awarded the 2007 Larry Turner Award for Non-Fiction. 

Lene also writes a blog called The Seated View, on which she posts writing and photography.