{"id":2056,"date":"2016-06-10T19:42:14","date_gmt":"2016-06-10T19:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=2056"},"modified":"2016-06-07T19:50:57","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T19:50:57","slug":"chronic-illness-reunions-and-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/06\/chronic-illness-reunions-and-us.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Reunions and Us"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image
Image courtesy of healing dream\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This time of year, many families are gathering in large or smaller groups to celebrate their relationships and relations. I really enjoy family reunions, and I always learn something new about my heritage, where I come from and who I am.<\/p>\n

There’s another benefit to attending reunions for people with chronic illness: We can learn about any health conditions that “run in the family,” and so be better informed about what might be pertinent to us. Also, if we have particular health issues, our experiences can better inform our own family members. Not necessarily as amusing as old, funny family stories, but helpful nonetheless.<\/p>\n

As more research digs into the genetic components of developing diseases, our knowledge about family health issues can enable us and our doctors to monitor anything that might affect us. Through our experiences “in the trenches,” we can then help encourage and educate others in our family, especially the next generations, to be aware and care about preventative measures related to diet, exercise, and other healthful things.<\/p>\n

Families are wonderful – and the more we do to keep them healthy, the better we will all be!<\/p>\n

Happy Summer!<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This time of year, many families are gathering in large or smaller groups to celebrate their relationships and relations. I really enjoy family reunions, and I always learn something new about my heritage, where I come from and who I am. There’s another benefit to attending reunions for people with chronic illness: We can learn…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,360,43,1242,4,1047,578,1245],"tags":[2151,2153,2152,2150,2154],"class_list":["post-2056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-good","category-goodness","category-positive","tag-chronic-illness-and-genetics","tag-family-health-history","tag-family-health-issues","tag-genetics-and-us","tag-reunions-and-us"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: Reunions and Us - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When you get together with family this summer, think about...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/06\/chronic-illness-reunions-and-us.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Reunions and Us - 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2057,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions\/2057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}