Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain LIFE Spring 2015, Issue 11 | Page 15

Parenting

ill caregivers as desperate as she was to find a
child-friendly way to explain their illnesses.
The process of writing and publishing a book, while
keeping up with a job, family, and living with chronic
pain at the same time is…not easy. But she was determined to see it in print and in the hands of families
who are raising young children while dealing with an
“invisible illness.”

Elizabeth wanted to do something to help her son
understand and assure him that her pain wasn’t because of something he did. From this desire, the idea
for “Why Does Mommy Hurt?” was born. When she
wrote the book, it was only intended for her own
son. However, she couldn’t stop thinking of the millions of other sons and daughters in the same situation, with the same feelings of confusion, frustration and guilt...and the millions of chronically

Why Does Mommy Hurt? Helping Children Cope
with having a Parent or Caregiver with Chronic
Pain, Fibromyalgia, or Autoimmune Disease is selfpublished through Outskirts Press and is available
in both paperback ($9.95) and eBook ($3.95) versions on Amazon.com and parentswithpain.com. A
portion of the proceeds will benefit the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association (NFMCPA).
Elizabeth M. Christy, author of many freelance and online
publications, writes a blog for parents with chronic pain and
disease: potomacfallsmama.blogspot.com. She also runs the
nonprofit “Books and Bottles,” supporting needy children and
infants. Elizabeth suffers from autoimmune disease and FM,
and lives in Sterling, VA with her growing family.

BlogTalk Radio Interview with Elizabeth Christy by Jan Chambers, NFMCPA President
NFMCPA: How open are you with
friends and family about your
illness and symptoms?
EC: I am very open. Originally, I
was embarrassed, especially after so
many of my own family members
didn’t believe that I was actually sick.
But now, I consider myself to be an
advocate for invisible illness. I blog
regularly about my personal struggles with the disease, and one of my
biggest goals is to give other patients
HOPE, and community.
NFMCPA: Do you blog about your
illness? If so, what inspired you
to do so?

EC: I started a blog about a year ago,
but I didn’t plan on blogging about
my illness. However, that changed
one day when I realized that fibromyalgia was very real, and that is
was not my fault. It seems crazy,
but it took me several years to not
feel shame at the diagnosis. I wrote
a piece called “The Invisible Afflication,” that ended up being published
in a Northern Virginia magazine,
as well as shared on myinvisiblelife.
net and the N F