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(INTRO MUSIC)
The ring fits, it must be a good day.
(AUCTION SOUND CLIP)
This is Butterfield's Auction. This is where I come every Thursday night; it's kinda like
a family affair, my nieces show up to visit; my sister comes every week. It's good for
me, it's therapeutic, I get to come and visit with people and see friends. It's very hard
for people to understand because you don't look sick. I can't tell you how many people
say, "Hey Lady! You don't look sick!" When I'm at the auction or sometimes just out with
friends or whatever, I get two different kinds of reactions: one either someone is constantly
trying to help me: "Oh! I feel sorry for you look it your poor hands" you know? Or, "Oh
is your arm doing better? Is your hand doing better?" And the bad part of me wants to say,
"You know what? I ain't never gettin' better, buddy and stop askin'!!"
Hey! Can I get everybody's attention? I have five forms of arthritis; one of those forms
is called rheumatoid. I'm on a mission to change how people look at auto-immune arthritis;
I want them to understand it's not a way to predict the weather; it's not an old person's
disease.
What kind of arthritis do you have?
Hurt bad [LAUGHTER]
Isn't it all the hurtin' kind?
Hey, before I worked here, did you really get what arthritis was? Did you know that
there was a Rheumatoid Arthritis that was auto-immune and regular arthritis? Did you
know all that before I came or did you think it was all one kind of arthritis?
I've learned a lot from you.
I feel so much better about myself when I come to the auction on Thursday nights because
I know that it is a major accomplishment for me to have done my hair and done my makeup
and when you look good, you feel good to me, when I've made it to that point, I'm no longer
an arthritis sufferer, I have now become an arthritis survivor.