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My life has never been straight-forward and so another curve ball has been thrown my way.

I’ve recently been more open in the real struggles I face with Fibromyalgia, it’s also known that I suffer from the circulatory disease “Raynaud’s” – of course, not the “common” type but rather my hands and feet severely blister and become deeply infected as opposed to white and numb. This has worsened over the years and despite trying every single preventative measure and form of medication, I very nearly lost my fingers last year and the doctors say they do not know how they managed to save them.

So with two incurable illnesses that are getting progressively worse, I was recently given a choice by medical professionals:

Option 1: Undergo the treatment – Iloprost – whereby I’d be hospitalised for an approximation of a week to have transfusions in my hands for 6 hours per day. I would not have use of my hands and it has horrible side effects which may be exasperated by my Fibromyalgia or even vice versa. Last but not least, once I have this treatment, I will be dependant on it for life and will need it once or twice a year.

Option 2: Move abroad to warmer climates.
I have a great group of friends, a close-knit family and have worked so hard training and building Reach One Hundred Pilates so it still wasn’t an easy decision. But I had to choose option 2 right? Age 25 having spent a lot of time in hospital already, I couldn’t give my life to option 1.

I would not give up my love of being an instructor, so I researched the top places for Pilates. At first I was going to go to Dubai, then I was about to book flights to Hawaii having acquired a job there, then Anita rang me from Malta. She told me about the academy she runs for Pilates Teacher Training and it is one of the top training centres in the world. The deciding factor was learning that the last living client of Joseph Pilates himself, aged 87, helps on this course. Suddenly it became closing one door to open another, a once in a lifetime opportunity.
This year long course will train me in Reformer, Cadillac, Chair and broaden my knowledge of Pilates to be able to teach anywhere in the world.

So after an intense week following this, I have an apartment, a place on the course and flights booked for 7th November!

It was the next stage that was the hardest; telling my friends, family and places of work. The support and love took be aback and I didn’t expect it, so it was even tougher and more emotional than I ever thought it was going to be, bringing tears to my eyes now.

I’ve experienced and will continue to experience every possible emotion; sadness, fear, anger, excitement. But I’m the biggest believer that everything happens for a reason… so let’s do this!