Nun's rare illness spurs new approach to life

Published: 2006-01-09

WILMINGTON, Del. (CNS) -- Most people would not see a chronic, progressive, debilitating disease as a blessing, or call themselves "one of the lucky ones." Mercy Sister Peggy Mahoney must not be most people. Sister Peggy, director of planned giving for the Wilmington Diocese, was diagnosed in 2003 with polymyositis, an autoimmune disease marked by weakness and inflammation of the muscles -- usually beginning with those closest to and within the trunk of the body, such as the neck, shoulders, hips and back, according to the Myositis Association. She started seeing doctors in March 2002 when she had difficulty walking up a flight of steps; it took a year and a half for her to be diagnosed. "I have never had pain," she said. "I have aches, discomfort, periods of weakness." Sister Peggy feels she is lucky because she has been "forced to find that balance" in life that so many people talk about but rarely achieve.

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