I grew up in Maine, where cold weather is the norm for most of the year, so getting a good suntan was a challenge. In 1984, I moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina. There, the summers were a lot longer. Eventually, I even started going with co-workers to a tanning salon. I visited the salon regularly for a year-and-a-half. A year later, in July 2004, a mole appeared on the back of my knee, so I decided to go to a local dermatologist to have it examined.

Today almost every other person you talk too is living with daily joint pain. It does not matter what the age or physical shape of the person, daily pain seems to be a common complaint. Living with chronic pain can wear a person down, affecting energy levels, mood and overall stamina. The cause can vary however Arthritis is typically the root problem.

I’ve been battling migraines for about 10 years now. I’ve been through the whole gauntlet - CAT scans, MRI’s, contrast PET scans, test, test, test, test, ad nauseum. Anyway, you name it, I’ve done it. I’ve tried pretty much every migraine med on the planet at least once.

My life had been going along as hectic as ever. I had a couple of business trips and one of them was to Hilton Head on April 1, 2000. I had this nagging cough with blood for about a month so thought I better go to the Dr. before going on the trip to make sure I wasn't getting sick.

Earlier this year, I had one of the most serious ordeals with health in my life so far – my battle with gingivitis. No, scratch that. My WAR with gingivitis – because that’s really what it was – me against the gingivitis, all-out, total mobilization, day-in and day-out.