Sunday Quotes on Chronic Illness

(image from IMDB.com)

Today’s quotes are all from one person, Karen Duffy.  In 1995 she was diagnosed with  sarcoidosis, and specifically neurosarcoidosis which affects her brain   When I went looking for quotes for chronic illness, the link to her quotes on the web site Brainy Quote was in the top three.  Duffy was a MTV VJ but she is also a film and TV actress, model and author.

Her Wikipedia page has the following:

Duffy was leading a relatively carefree youth in the heyday of her modeling career, partying with movie star friends such as George Clooney, when in 1995 she was diagnosed with the relatively rare disease sarcoidosis. In her case, this affected her brain (neurosarcoidosis), leaving her partially paralyzed. She has so far battled it with a sense of humor, as is evident from her 2000 autobiography Model Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Ass.

The following quotes are from Brainy Quote.

Concealing an illness is like keeping a beach ball under water.

I did as much research as I could and I took ownership of this illness, because if you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?

I still when I wake up hit the ground running; and having an illness, I’m only one of hundreds of thousands of people that live with an illness, and I’m just in awe of the bravery and dignity of the people I see at the hospital.

In a way, I have simplified my life by setting priorities.

In the beginning, when I first found out I had a disease that was incurable, emotionally I had to get used to the idea of being sick before I could think about making any other major decisions in my life.

I also found an interview Duffy did with CNN where I found the following quotes.

Sarcoidosis isn’t some burden that I carry. It’s not a gift that I would have picked out for myself. But now that I have it, it’s made me actually stronger. It’s made me braver.

When [my doctor] saw me and saw the level of pain that I was in. He said, ‘I’m going to call right now and send you over to get a series of MRIs.’ My life as a healthy person pretty much ended and my whole new life began, which is having to deal with a chronic illness.

Sunday Love Quotes

(All images from We Heart It)

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and I thought I would find some quotes on love to share with everyone.

Even after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens with
A love like that.
It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz of Persia

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.

- Maya Angelou

Experience is how life catches up with us and teaches us to love and forgive each other.

- Judy Collins

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.

- Barbara De Angelis

We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.

- Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so.

- David Grayson

Sunday Quotes

(Image via We Heart It)

We rely upon the poets, the philosophers, and the playwrights to articulate what most of us can only feel, in joy and sorrow. They illuminate the thoughts for which we only grope; they give us the strength and balm we cannot find in ourselves. Whenever I feel my courage wavering I rush to them. They will give me the wisdom of acceptance, the will and resilience to push on.

- Helen Hayes

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.

- Melodie Beattie

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.

- Oscar Wilde

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.

- Robert Frost

You will face many defeats in your life, but never let yourself be defeated.

- Maya Angelou

Kindness trumps greed: it asks for sharing. Kindness trumps fear: it calls forth gratefulness and love. Kindness trumps even stupidity, for with sharing and love, one learns.

- Marc Estrin

What we do matters to us. Work may not be the most important thing in our lives or the only thing. We may work because we must, but we still want to love, to feel pride in, to respect ourselves for what we do and to make a difference.

- Sara Ann Friedman

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

- Christopher Reeve

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because some day in life you will have been all of these.

- George Washington Carver