Debbie's Story: DebSparkles

Debbie's story is inspiring. She truly knows what it means to persevere when life gets tough. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, Debbie. You really do sparkle!

"My name is Debbie, although I have found I answer to 'DebSparkles' much more quickly. Funny how our online personalities seem to take over.

I have been a single parent for 25 years. Most of those years, I worked for other people, several jobs at a time, to make ends meet and care for my family on my own. I started bead-weaving as a teenager, and the enjoyment and the passion I felt for it never wore off. As my kids got a bit older, I started participating in weekend craft fairs to sell my work, not only for household money but to resupply my ever growing need for beads.

I also was sick a lot; just little things, but it seemed like all the time, and I never let it interfere with my jobs or taking care of my home or children. I attributed it to exhaustion, doing it all by myself, just like every other single parent does.

Then in 2004, my world came crashing down. I could not get out of bed one day; it felt as if I had no legs. I could do nothing. After a few days at the hospital, and then a continuous circle of doctors and specialists, I was diagnosed with a rare illness. Well, I shouldn't say rare, just not well-known. I had Chiari Malformation and Syringomellia. That's a long story in itself that I won't bore you with, but I ended up going through major brain surgery two separate times.

The after-effects of all this caused me to lose all use of my legs, and even worse, my hands. I went from typing 90 words per minute down to 20 - with a mistake in every word. Even worse, I could not bead. My love, my hobby, my passion. So I went to work on me. Through a lot of effort, medications, therapy, and in the end a lot of personal self-help therapy, I got to the point where I could get around with a walker, then a cane, and then eventually with no support at all (never mind that to this day I walk like a drunken sailor). Then I decided it was time to get my hands working again, because I needed to bead. A lot of work later, I am able to bead-weave again; it's not exactly the intricate work I used to do, but good, solid, well-made, pretty things.

However, I did find that my disabilities would not ever resolve themselves to the point where I could go out and make a living again. Then I found Etsy. I have a fun little shop where I sell my work. Sales are small and slow, but I work every day to meet more people and share what I do. Being pretty much housebound, I have learned to use the computer to socialize, make friends, share my passion, advertise, and promote myself. My dream is to soon get to the point where I have built up a clientele in my Etsy store that will allow me to take care of myself, pay my bills, and enjoy my life as much as I possibly can in my situation. Every cloud has a silver lining, and I have found my silver lining in the Etsy community."

You can find Debbie on Etsy at debsparkles.etsy.com. Check out her website too, at serenitycollections.com.

Health and happiness,
Abbey