Sometimes we come across stories and blogs so perfectly told that we can’t do much to improve them. So we’re not going to. We’re going to offer the opportunity to share stories exactly as you want them told.   In this new series, we’re creating podcasts from our favourite blogs, read by their writers in their own voices. This is In Her Own Words. If you write a blog or would like to recommend your favourite blog please contact cassie.delaney@her.ie. ___________________________________________ Like a lot of bloggers I’ve come across in the course of this series, Gloria Shannon has a clear background in communications. Her posts are balanced and well written, engaging and enjoyable. However, what differentiates Gloria from other bloggers and indeed other young Irish women, is the fact that she suffers from Rheumatoid Arthritis at such a young age. She started writing about a year ago during her communications studies. Gloria says she motivated by the desire to connect with other RA sufferers. “The idea that someone else who feels like they are alone being so young and suffering from something people don’t understand would read it and finally feel like someone else understands them. That is what motivates me to keep going” she says. The piece Gloria reads is about the day she was diagnosed over 8 years ago. She says: “It was about the day I actually got my diagnosis and I was told I had rheumatoid arthritis. I had been suffering from flare up for about 6 months to a year before I was actually diagnosed and it was an important day in my life. I was only 15 and didn’t fully understand the gravity of it at the time so I guess this piece is about my reflection on that day now 8 years later as a 23 year old woman” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooBo8ve666o