The Whispered Roar
— Shawna Barnes

The good ole Army still has a few things to teach me nearly 12 years after my medical retirement. “Piss-poor planning makes for poor performance” was drilled into my head as a combat…

Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with prednisone. Not everyone will have the same response to treatment. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. What is a prednisone…

I failed at being a business owner. Big time. I had to lay off employees and break contracts, and I felt like I had let a lot of people down because of…

“Would you stop sharing so much about mya … whatever the hell it is you have? All you’re doing is looking for attention.” Anyone else heard that before? Maybe from colleagues at work when…

Can you play outside with your kids? Do you need an ice vest? Did you run an ultramarathon in the desert? Are you able to work full or part time? Are you living or…

The COVID-19 lockdowns had just started, and small businesses around the world were shuttering at an alarming rate. Many weren’t only temporarily adjusting, they were closing for good. Being in quarantine meant no…

Last month, when my son, Caden Degen, turned 21, I celebrated it publicly by acknowledging my perspective on what it was like for him growing up, given my myasthenia gravis (MG). This…

I’ve lost 20 pounds in three months. Crazy, right? In previous columns, I discussed some of the “aha” moments I’d experienced while taking high doses of prednisone to manage my myasthenia gravis…

Guess what I did last week? I took a shower standing up! Who cares, right? Well, I do. Because it was a win, however small. When you have a rare disease like myasthenia…

We all do it. There’s a reason we have the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses,” which everyone knows and understands. For some reason, we want the outside world to see our lives through…

Shedding tears in frustration. Missing football games. Giving foot rubs and having heart-to-heart conversations. Being teased because I was in a wheelchair. Raising a boy to become a young man is hard enough without…

What do you do when you are awakened by your son telling you that a dead tree just fell on his stepdad’s head? For me, a switch flipped, and I went into medic mode,…