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Erin's Story

Hello everyone!!! Let me tell you my story about living with Cushing's disease. My name is Erin Gallagher and I am from Dayton, Ohio. I was born on July 29, 1980 and I am currently 22 years old. I first started noticing the full-blown symptoms of Cushing's my freshman year of college in 1999 at the age of 19. However, I think Cushing's began a lot sooner than that and I just did not notice it. Looking back as a child, I was always thirsty and always had to rest my legs because they hurt while my mom and I would go shopping. My older brothers used to make fun of me because I slept most of the day and was up all night. They would sing a song "Up all night-Sleep all day." That really made me mad- I do not know why, but older brothers can be a pain. In grade school, I remember being very aggressive in sports.

In high school, I was very active in sports. I was captain of my basketball team and captain of my volleyball team. I also earned most valuable player in volleyball. However, my athletic career was forced to stop prematurely. I started having severe leg pain and numbness in my feet and legs sophomore year in high school. I did not even feel the bottoms of my feet when I played sports and my calves and ankles were in excruciating pain. I went from being captain of my team to the bench warmer. This really upset me because I liked to be involved in all the action. I developed a condition in my legs called exertion compartment syndrome. They did not diagnose me with this until my senior year of high school. Therefore, from my sophomore year until my senior year I just sucked up the pain and kept going forward. I never gave up. I continued to the end. I had a bilateral fasciotomy of my legs in October of 1998. This surgery was unsuccessful. It took a long time for me to recover. I went through physical therapy. Throughout, high school as I look back now, I remember being aggressive, irritable, and depressed. I also remember getting severe acne and my friends would ask why my face would be so red and why I would have sweat running down my face at all times. In addition, I remember that it got difficult for me to put my hair up in a ponytail for my sports games. The weakness in my arms is yet another classic sign of Cushing's. My periods were also irregular. In addition, I always had trouble losing weight in high school. I was always a little overweight. My weight fluctuated depending on what sport season I was in. I weighed anywhere from 130-170 pounds in high school. I remember when I was not playing sports my weight would just pile on and I would have to watch what I ate.

Now onto my college years. I started school at the University of Dayton in August of 1999. I loved college and met many new friends. However, within the first couple of months of college, I noticed severe acne worse than before and facial hair on my side burns and chin. I already had hair above my upper lip - I had that for as long as I could remember. I also developed dark purple stretch marks on my abdomen, back, arms, and armpits. I showed them to my mother and she said that they were worse than her stretch marks from her pregnancies. My periods were still irregular, I was sweating all the time, peeing anywhere from four to five times a night, and I piled on 40+ pounds in two months. At first I thought it was the college food, but I thought to myself that no one could gain 40 pounds in two months, something is not right. I also had another surgery for my legs in December of 1999. Again, this surgery was unsuccessful. I developed an infection in my left leg. It was infected by a gram-negative pseudomonas bacteria. The bacteria was eating a hole through my leg and I could see my muscle tissue. Therefore, I had surgery again in February of 2000 to get rid of the infection. I was put on a heavy antibiotic Cipro about four months to make sure the infection did not come back. The medication made me have internal bleeding. Again, I had to go to physical therapy and I was massaged. I remember struggling walking to classes my freshman year. By the end of freshman year, I weighed 205 pounds. I was mad at myself for gaining all that weight. I am only 5 feet 4 inches tall, so it made me look like a blimp. My mother searched the Internet and came to a condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). She thought I had this so we set up an appointment to see a reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Mark Bidwell, in Kettering, Ohio. He did not have an opening until July of 2000. I was determined to lose the weight, so during that summer, I worked out six days a week and went on the Scarsdale medical diet. I lost about 40 pounds that summer (about three and one-half months time).

In July of 2000, I saw Dr. Bidwell. He took one look at me and said I had PCOS. They did an ultrasound and I read his notes - it said possibly PCOS with a question mark. He did some blood work and saw that I had high androgen levels and high cholesterol. I remember my cholesterol was 351. Deathly high. He put me on Spironolactone and birth control pills and told me to make a follow up appointment. I had a high prolactin level. Prolactin is high in pregnant women. Therefore, my endocrinologist said that he wanted to do more blood work and if I still had a high prolactin level, he would run an MRI. I looked up "high prolactin level" on the Internet. This led me to pituitary tumors, and finally led me to Cushing's disease. I read what it said about the disease and I knew at that moment I had Cushing's disease. I even showed my father my buffalo hump. He told my mom," do not worry her, nothing is wrong with her." I knew he was wrong. I just knew I had Cushing's. I saw Dr. Bidwell again in August. I asked him if I had Cushing's and he said, "I do not think so." He thought I just was a fat girl with depression. Between July and August, I noticed personality changes. I used to be a confident and strong young lady but I turned into a crying and depressed young lady. I developed crying spells and I did not know why I cried. I remember crying on my way to classes my sophomore year. I also had a hard time concentrating on my schoolwork. I was dropping classes left to right and was very sad and depressed. I also kept switching majors because my mind was very scattered. Because my depression was so bad, I went to my physician to get on some antidepressants. In addition, my physician gave me Lipitor for the high cholesterol.

My first anti-depressant was Zoloft. However, I started having weird nightmares with this medication. My roommates said that I would huddle in the corner of my bed against the wall screaming. I told my doctor this and she changed medications. I was switched to Celexa. During this time, I continued to work out and watch what I ate. I got down to 164 pounds. In addition, my friends said that I have changed. I was very different and I knew it. Therefore, I went to go see my college psychologist. He helped so much. Just talking to someone about my problems helped a ton. In November of 2000 my sophomore year my dog died. I took this hard. I started going into a deep depression. I gave up my diet and my weight started to pile on. In addition, I continued to have leg problems. I could not even walk on my feet. Somewhat difficult being a college student where you have to walk everywhere. Therefore, I had to see my orthopedic surgeon and he ordered a bone scan. I was afraid that I might have stress fractures, but I did not. It turned out to be severe shin splints. He ordered me to stay on crutches and put an arthritis cream called Zostrix-, which can be found over the counter. After this incident, I completely stopped going to the gym. My depression was getting worse. I often stayed at home instead of my apartment with my friends. I hid my depression away from them. I did not want them to see me crying all the time. Unfortunately, my family had to see me this way. A side of me that I never wanted anyone to see. During winter term 2000, I took a psychology course and I knew that I wanted to major in psychology. After switching majors four times I finally settled on psychology. I think I chose this major because I could relate to it.

During the remainder of my sophomore year, I kept piling on the weight, had sweating episodes, hot all the time, weakness, fatigue, depression, need I say more. My endocrinologist gave me medications to treat the insulin resistance that I had. I started on Avandia, and then to Actos, next it was Glucophage, and then back to Actos. The Glucophage gave me stomach problems. I have a weak stomach because I was diagnosed with having Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in high school. In addition, I was still trying to find the right antidepressant. I kept getting strange nightmares. My social life in college was depleting. I never wanted to go out with my friends. I was usually too weak to go out and my legs hurt all the time. In addition, I was getting my face waxed to remove all the hair that I had. My wax lady referred me to an electrolysis technician who removes hair by a laser. So I started having laser hair removal at $250 a visit. It seemed to help but I had many treatments done. My electrolysis lady always told me that she thought something else was wrong with me other than PCOS. I agreed with her. She believed me. My endocrinologist did not believe I had Cushing's and I did not know where to turn. My physician even once told me that something was not right, but she could not pinpoint it. Stupid me- I never mentioned Cushing's to her and I never showed her the stretch marks. I just thought they were from being so overweight. My endocrinologist ripped my confidence down and I believed him. My physician searched for more specialists who could help me. There are not very many endocrinologists in Ohio. By the end of my sophomore year, I gained a lot of weight back. I weighed over 200 pounds. I cannot remember the exact weight now. That summer my grandfather died in July, which was hard on my family. He died unexpectedly by falling down his concrete basement stairs. He was rushed to the ER and he died there. By August 2001, I weighed about 230 pounds. I remember this because my father who is a private pilot was flying me to New York for a family reunion. I had a hard time finding dressy clothes for the occasion. I grew out of everything I owned. I was literally gaining about 15 pounds a month. I was so depressed and I was so weak by this point.

I started my junior year of college. This was my scariest year because I was very suicidal. I remember driving my car and thinking about crashing into something. I also thought about shooting myself. My parents got worried and they started hiding my father's guns so I would not do anything stupid. They were also afraid to leave me alone for a while. I hated being this way and I wanted this nightmare to end. I also had times when I wanted to overdose on all my medications. I was taking about seven medications a day. Since I was a psychology major, I knew a lot about depression. I knew I needed help. I shared my feelings with my mother. She even went to me to my physician appointments to find the right anti-depressants for me. I struggled to find the right anti-depressant and I was finally put on Effexor XR. This pill seemed to help the most out of all them. However, I was still not feeling 100%. For the first part of my junior year, I lived in a landlord house but I mostly stayed at home because I did not want my friends to see what I was going through. When I saw them, I just put on a fake smile. By December of 2001, I moved back home for good. I could not handle my emotions anymore. I needed to be home. I got very angry and hostile. I remember having episodes when I would get so angry that I would throw things and tear things apart. Usually right after these types of episodes, I would also have crying episodes. My emotions were up and down and I could not control them. I hated being this way. In addition, I hated treated my family the way that I did. I felt like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Now my weight was so bad and I weighed around 260 pounds. My electrolysis lady told me about an endocrinologist in Columbus, Ohio. She was a young doctor. The first opening was for February 28, 2002. Therefore, I took it. In January, I was having severe chest pains under my ribs and around my heart. It hurt to move and I thought I was having a heart attack. So my father rushed me to the ER. The movement of the car made my chest hurt so much. In the ER, they diagnosed me as having costochondrosis. Which is inflammation of the rib cage. They also noticed that I had a high white blood count. I thought that was strange. They gave me Tylenol 3 to help the pain and after a couple of days, I was feeling better.

Finally, February came- the time of my appointment with Dr. Elena Christofides. I told her about Cushing's and told her that I thought I had it. She told me not to jump to conclusions just yet. I gave her my whole medical story and she gave me a full exam. She examined my body and noticed all the stretch marks and the buffalo hump. She said that she has not seen such pronounced stretch marks in a long time. She later told me that she studied Cushing's patients in New Orleans. In addition, she said that my buffalo hump was not caused by being overweight. I was so happy to hear that. Finally someone who believed me. She ordered blood work, an MRI, and three 24-hour urine free cortisol tests. I walked out of her office with lovely little jugs!!! The results came back. My urine cortisol readings were 244, 179, and 84. The MRI stated that I possibly had a 3mm tumor on my left pituitary gland. She then said I had Cushing's disease. Therefore, she referred me to a neurosurgeon, Dr. Robert Gerwitz at Mount Carmel West Hospital. The neurosurgeon said that my MRI was inconclusive so he said that he could do exploratory brain surgery. We asked him how many surgeries has he performed and he said one to two in the last five years. Not too many if you ask me. My parents and I did not like this idea of exploratory brain surgery. He told us that if he did not see a tumor, he would remove my whole pituitary, and if that did not work, he would remove my adrenals. I thought, "Hey wait a second- that is my body you are talking about. I do not want anything removed from it." My father said to the neurosurgeon, "this is my only daughter and I love her so much- if this was your daughter would you have yourself do the surgery or someone else?" This doctor was kind enough to say to us that I should go to someone else. Most doctors have a huge ego problem. Therefore, we were back at square one, in search of a neurosurgeon who was experienced in pituitary surgery.

Therefore, my family and I searched the Internet on neurosurgeons. We came on the name Dr. Hae-Dong Jho from Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. He performed a less invasive procedure where there was no nasal packing and you were able to leave the hospital the next day. We did not want the old type of procedure done where they go through the upper lip. We sent a nice little email to Dr. Jho, telling him my story. In addition, my father mailed him a copy of my MRI's. Dr. Jho personally called us on the phone and told us that Cushing's disease cannot just be diagnosed with the 24-hour urine free cortisol test and that my MRI was inconclusive. Therefore, he referred us to an endocrinologist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His name was Dr. Murray B. Gordon. My first appointment with him was on May 3, 2002.

Dr. Gordon did a thorough examination, which took about two hours. I gave him my whole medical background and told him that I thought I had Cushing's disease. He told me that he did not think I had it but he thought I probably had adrenal hyperplasia. He ordered some blood work and tests. My 24 hour UFC's were 82, 112, and 87. I had the Dexamethasone tests (high and low dose), but I suppressed normally. Dr. Gordon believed that I had PCOS and pseudocushings caused by my depression. He suggested that I consider having the vertical banded gastroplasty for weight reduction. I did not believe him. I did not want to believe that I was the one who was causing all of my problems. I just knew that there was something more. I had a feeling that I had Cushing's disease. I just knew it. I even sent Dr. Gordon pictures of me from my high school years and early college years. You could really see the difference. I wanted to change his opinion. I was desperate for him to believe me. I did a lot of research on this disease and I knew that 15%-20% of people suppress normally with the Dexamethasone test and fall through the cracks. I told him this and I asked for the dex/crh-stim test. He ordered the dex/crh-stim test for me but in the meantime, I had ct scans of my abdomen and ovaries and ultrasounds of my pelvis and ovaries. There were no cysts to be found.

The dex/crh-stim test was the test that made Dr. Gordon do a 180-degree turn. My baseline cortisol 2 hours after I took the last Dexamethasone pill was 3.8, 14.8 at 15 minutes, 19.1 at 30 minutes, 20.6 at 60 minutes, 24.0 at 90 minutes, and 29.1 at 120 minutes. The baseline ACTH was elevated to 61 pg/ml (9 to 52), stimulated to 98 at 15 minutes, and rose to a peak of 115 at 60 minutes. Dr. Gordon was shocked at these results and said that they were exuberant. Therefore, he ordered another dex/crh stim test and a midnight serum cortisol test. The other dex/crh test showed that my ACTH level baseline was 52, 151 at 15 min, 243 at 30 minutes, 243 at 60 min, 265 at 90 minutes, and 353 at 120 minutes. Another positive for Cushing's disease. My midnight serum cortisol was 21. Another positive for Cushing's. Dr. Gordon believed me now. He had the test results that confirmed Cushing's disease. When he called me, I was jumping for joy. Finally, I was on the road to recovery. I had a big grin on my face. The next step was another MRI, which I had done on August 31, 2002. This MRI did not show anything.

Therefore, I had to go through the inferior petrosal sinus sampling procedure (IPPS) on September 27, 2002. Dr. Andrew Ku from Allegheny General Hospital performed that procedure. He had a difficult time getting into my right sinuses. The whole procedure took about four and one-half hours but then I had to lie still for six hours after. The hardest part of this procedure was lying still for so long. Because I am so fat, my legs went very numb during the procedure. It took four days after the procedure to regain the feeling in my legs. My petrosal levels were baseline at minus 5 minutes - 39, minutes two minutes - 41, and at zero minutes -41 and stimulating following CRH to 75 at two minutes, 87 at five minutes, 132 at 10 minutes, 166 at 20 minutes, 167 pg/mL at 30 minutes. My baseline right petrosal sinus ACTH levels were 95 pg/mL at minus five minutes, 59 at minus 20 minutes, 245 at zero minutes, 223 at plus two minutes, 343 at plus five minutes, 240 at plus 10 minutes, 224 at plus 20 minutes, and 270 at plus 30 minutes. On my left petrosal sinus, the baseline minus five minutes was greater than 1,500 pg/mL, greater than 1,500 pg/mL at minutes two minutes, 1,124 baseline at time zero, greater than 1,500 pg/mL at plus two minutes, greater than 1,500 at plus 5 minutes, greater than 1,500 at plus 10 minutes, etc. etc. The petrosal sinus catherization procedure was diagnostic of central Cushing's syndrome (Cushing's disease) with the ACTH-secreting microadenoma located in the left portion of the pituitary gland.

The next step was getting a pre consultation with Dr. Jho. I had this on November 4, 2002. Dr. Jho is a man of few words. When he walked into the room, he asked if we had any questions. I said yes I do. I had a whole notebook full of them. He did not really answer in much detail, but just responded with a few words to each question. However, I heard he was a good surgeon and that is why I went to him. I was scheduled to have surgery on November 21, 2002, but I came down with a cold and an ear infection. You cannot get surgery with this because you run the risk of getting an infection in the brain and it can be very dangerous. I was so upset about this because I wanted surgery over with. Therefore, I had to wait to be scheduled again. His first opening was for May. I could not wait that long so they put me on a waiting list. Then I got a call and there was an opening for Tuesday, December 10, 2002. I took it. Therefore, the ball was rolling again. My parents and I had to get everything ready for my surgery. We had to make reservations at a hotel in Pittsburgh because we wanted to stay in Pittsburgh just in case something went wrong.

The day finally came. My emotions were all over the place. I was excited, scared, nervous, happy, sad, and hopeful all at the same time. I got into the lovely little gown and the wheeled me into the surgery floor. They put my IV in then. Again, they had trouble finding my veins. The anesthesiologist explained what they were going to do to me. Told me I would need an A-line. I had to wait for a long time before I was wheeled into my surgery room. The nurse told me that someone set up the wrong tools for Dr. Jho to use. So I had to wait and wait. Boy, those were the longest minutes I have ever waited for. Then it was time for surgery. I heard the nurse say where is Dr. Jho's new endoscope. I was worried when they said that. The anesthetic took affect before I was able to find out if they used his new endoscope. They surgery took between four and four and one-half hours. When I woke up after surgery, I was very nauseous. No one was around me and I could not speak because my throat hurt from the tubes they put down my throat. No one came to me until I started to vomit up blood. They then wiped off my mouth and gave me something for nausea. After waiting in the ICU for about two and one-half hours, they took me to my room. I continued to feel nauseous. I was thirsty so I had some ginger ale. Then I was vomiting up blood and then blood was coming out of my nose. Boy- was that scary. The doctors did not seem to be worried. They did not give me anything to help me with my nausea. Dr. Jho said it was from the anesthetic and that they had to give me a lot because I am so big. I also had some cerebral spinal fluid leakage. It only dripped when I put my head down or when I got up. Again, the doctors were not worried because it was not dripping like a faucet. However, of course, I was worried. Dr. Jho actually came in and yelled at my family for being too emotional. We were just worried about the leakage and the vomiting- that is all. My father was not on good terms with him then. Dr. Jho is a great surgeon, but he does not have great bedside manners. I would recommend him for surgery because he is good at what he does. I guess I was a difficult case. I actually had two pituitary tumors. Both just a couple of millimeters each. Here is Dr. Jho's surgery notes: Dural matter was coagulated and dural opening was made. We discovered a tumor at the anterior portion mostly on the left side. Tumor tissue was removed and sent to the pathologist, who reported that this was a pituitary adenoma. Then, we discovered further tumor at the left side of the sella abutting the medial wall of the left-sided sinus. The tumor was excised progressively and normal-looking pituitary tissue was well perserved. Because of her septal deviation and presella type of sphenoid sinus, the operation was very difficult. In addition, tumor removal was also difficult due to excessive intercavornous sinus. Anyway, despite this difficulty, the operation went well and tumor removal was uneventful.

To me this sounds like he did an excellent job despite the problems that he encountered with my anatomy. Good thing I found Dr. Jho. If I had another surgeon, maybe he/she would not see both tumors. Therefore, I thank my lucky stars.

I was out of the hospital the day after surgery. My parents and I stayed at a hotel close to the hospital from Wednesday to Saturday. During this time, I was tired and I had a hard time breathing through my nose. I still had the CSF fluid leakage. Finally, Saturday came and we drove back home to Dayton. During this ride, I started to have a severe earache. That hurt worse than my surgery. I hardly had pain at all from the surgery. To tell you the truth my leg surgeries were more painful.

It took about a week for my CSF to stop leaking. I also asked for medication for my earache and some for my congestion that I had. That worked wonders for me. All the congestion was going to my ears and causing my earache.

The first couple of weeks post-op I was just so tired. However, I had trouble sleeping at night. I had to prop up my pillows because I could not lie flat. I also had trouble getting to sleep. I was worried it did not work because I did not notice any differences. Dr. Gordon ordered an overnight dexamethasone test for me and a UFC. My dex test serum cortisol was around one and my UFC was 115. The 115 worried me because I thought it was still high. Dr. Gordon just told me it was high due to my cortef and told me to reduce to 30 mg cortef. This was in the beginning of January 2003. I was still having problems falling asleep so my dad told me to reduce my cortef some more. I dropped down to 20 mg of cortef. Boy was that stupid. I stared getting sick. I was nauseous, queasy, chills, sweats, diarrhea, and I felt like I was going to vomit. I think I was pre- adrenal crisis. I stayed at 20 mg for a couple of days. Then I upped my dose back up to 30 mg. I asked Dr. Gordon if he thought if I was going into an adrenal crisis. He did not say anything. I wonder how experienced he is. I just continued to stay on 30 mg.

On January 10, 2003, I had an insulin tolerance test. This test was easy except for trying to get my blood. The nurses had a hard time getting my blood, but once they got my vein, it was easy. They took my baseline blood and then injected me with insulin. It took about 30 minutes to feel the effects of it. I started to get sweaty and I drenched the hospital bed. After injecting me with the insulin, they took my blood at different intervals.

My doctor finally called me about my ITT test results. It took him about 4 weeks to call me. The phone conversation was quick and he seemed to rush me. So here is a little bit of what he said: Normal cells somewhat suppressed, Pituitary cells not normally functioning- but it is normal after surgery. It will take six months- 1 year or so to function normally. Liver tests slightly off, Total Cholesterol- 131- Which is great because my highest before was 351, LDL-138, Trig-138, HDL-37- a little low but will go up if I exercise, Prolactin- normal, Thyroid- OK, Male hormones are down: Testosterone: 28, DHEAs: 79, GH 254, GH- stimulated at 45 minutes to 5.3- normal is anything greater than 5, Thyroid: .94- a little off- keep eye on it.

The whole month of January I was nauseous and had loose stools. I could not go anywhere because I was afraid that I would have to go to the bathroom. I was always queasy and I slept most of the day. What I noticed this month that my appetite was down. I started a diet. In addition, I started having my suicidal thoughts and crying episodes again. Dr. Gordon warned me that I would become depressed. Therefore, I decided to go back on my anti-depressants, Effexor XR 75 mg. I did not want to take them, but I did it for me. I was afraid that I would do something stupid. My depression was bad before surgery and I was worried that it would get a lot worse. I know that the depression is not my fault because my hormones are all messed up. Therefore, it will take patience. It took about two weeks for the anti-depressants to start working.

In February, I still felt nauseous and I was still having diarrhea. I did another 24 hr UFC and the results were 98. Therefore, Dr. Gordon told me to reduce my cortef from 30 mg to 20 mg. This did not affect me at all. I actually felt better on a lower dose. Then about a week after I lowered the dose, I had loose stools again. My moods have been up and down. I still get depressed and I still have anger episodes. I am still very moody. I think I need to up my Effexor XR.

In March, I had my post-op MRI. It is still a tight squeeze to fit into those. In addition, they also had a hard time getting my veins to inject me with the dye. I have scar tissue built up for being poked so much. My poor veins. This month, I did notice that my buffalo hump is down a little. Not much, but just a tad. I still look like the hunchback of Notre Dame. So far, I have lost 25 and ½ pounds but I am on that Scarsdale Medial Diet again. It is a low carbohydrate, low fat, low cholesterol, and high protein diet. I am really trying hard this time to reach my goal. I want to be able to fit in a plane seat so I can travel to Portland, Oregon for the first Cushing's Convention. I want to meet of the wonderful people who I have met here on the boards.

Recovery from Cushing's is different for everyone. Each of us is different. Some of us take a short time to wean off medications and some of us take a lot longer. I am hoping it will be a short time for me. The Scarsdale Diet is hard to follow but I try my best. I also make sure that I treat myself to something that I crave every once in a while.

Having Cushing's is a long battle and I know that all of you that have it know this. Cushing's disease changed me both physically and mentally. It did a lot of damage to my body. I believe that things happen for a reason to people. I know that I am a decent and loving person and I think God picked this path for me. What I have seen here on this website and on the boards is true genuine friendship, love, and support. Not too many people get to see this. I have all of you to thank for helping me out and all of you are like my second family. In addition, my family and close friends have helped me to move forward with life and have helped me through some difficult times. I guess you do not realize how much you have until you go through some major life obstacle. Recovering from Cushing's is a long, but just remember, "Rome was not built in a day." You have to take one step at a time, keep your head up, and stay positive. Cushing's took a toll on my health but I have to remember that it has made me a better person. If I can handle Cushing's, I can handle anything in life!

"OUR GREATEST GLORY IS NOT IN NEVER FALLING, BUT IN RISING EVERYTIME WE FALL." - CONFUCIUS

God Bless all of you who have this disease or know someone with this disease!
The more we educate others about Cushing's Syndrome- the more people we save! Go CUSH organization

Erin's photos. Click any thumbnail to view the larger image.

This is one of me freshman year of high school [Photographer: Erin's family]

This is me in April of 1996 my freshman year of high school [Photographer: Erin's family]

This is me my sophomore year in high school in August of 1996. I was captain of my volleyball team. [Photographer: Erin's family]

This is me my junior year of high school in December of 1997 [Photographer: Erin's family]

This is my senior year of high school 1999 [Photographer: Erin's family]

Another one of my senior year in high school 1999. [Photographer: Erin's family]

Another senior high school picture 1999. [Photographer: Erin's family]

This is me after I went on Scarsdale in November 2000. [Photographer: Erin's family]

This is me with my friends Colleen and Crissy [Photographer: Erin's family]

Me fishing - August 2002 [Photographer: Erin's family]

This was taken in October 2002. [Photographer: Erin's family]

This was taken the day before my surgery on Dec. 9th 2002. [Photographer: Erin's family]

Here is me on the day after surgery Dec. 11, 2002. Don't I look lovely!!!! [Photographer: Erin's family]

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