Personalised ‘Retro’ Pocket/Book Cushion with Free Book!

Up until 2013, I was enjoying a great career. For over 30 years I had worked with children and their families in various capacities – latterly specialising in fostering and adoption. I had found myself in a wonderful job as a manager in an adoption charity and having been there for just over a year, I became ill, experiencing chronic pain and fatigue, which meant I was largely unable to get out of bed. There followed an horrendous 18 months of feeling desperately unwell and being passed from one Specialist to another. During that time I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid which had probably been that way for ages and was slowly shutting my body down. I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia to explain the pain I was in. This didn’t however, explain the painful lumps I had developed… hundreds of small but excruciatingly painful lumps around my ribcage and larger ones on my arms, stomach and legs. I was so lucky that my GP had come across the very rare Dercums Disease before and he suggested this may be the case with me. I was then referred to a rare disease Specialist who confirmed that I had indeed got Dercums. There is no cure. It is rare. It is not yet understood. It robbed me of my wonderful job and the 30+ year career….and life as I knew it. With medication I managed to get to a point where I felt able to take on a new, but very different challenge and what started as a creative pastime has grown into my little business! Having worked with children for most of my life, the importance of reading and education has always been something I have promoted and so the idea of the Story Cushions was something I decided to concentrate on and I am regularly developing the range I offer. I have also now added a range of Pocket Cushion Gift Sets for adults. Unfortunately I now also suffer inflammatory arthritis in my hands, but although some days can be a real challenge, I aim to continue doing what I’m doing for as long as I can!