From a Mysterious Illness to Everyday Wins 

By Aileen Dodd | Sept. 24, 2024

Talisa King, of Buffalo, NY, was deep in thought at work, jotting down notes at her desk when she realized something was off. She couldn’t rise out of her chair. Her left side, from shoulder to toe, was numb and weak. Her mind was racing for answers: Is my body betraying me? Am I having a stroke — at 31 years old? 

“Everybody, including the medical team at my job, thought it was a stroke. I had been feeling weird and wonky all day,” says Talisa, who was a juvenile detention center worker at the time. She went to the hospital for treatment but left without answers. “I spent weeks in the hospital just to be released with a diagnosis listed as ‘unknown.’” 
 

It would take three months, multiple tests, visits with a neurologist, and the start of physical and occupational therapy for Talisa to find out what was really wrong with her. She was told she might have lupus, multiple sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease. But that wasn’t it. She ended up back in the hospital after her body had negative reactions to prescriptions that she didn’t need. 

Then, her insurance finally allowed her to see a doctor of her choice — rheumatologist Dr. Carlos Martinez, who diagnosed her with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 2012. He told Talisa that she had a chronic condition that would eventually spread to both sides of her body, causing pain. 

This was definitely not part of her life plan.

“I was like, ‘Can we shake the bag up and pick something else?’” Talisa recalls.

Grit and Determination

A go-getter, she was constantly on the move between her job at the detention center, her side hustle in retail, and her volunteer work helping elderly and young people in her community. On top of that, she was in the prime of her life and single. 

Talisa was known as the designated “superhero” of her family. Everyone counted on her in times of need. 

Now, it was Talisa who needed help. “I couldn’t tie my own shoes or cut my own food,” she says. “It was frustrating. I had no real social life. In my mind, I was like ‘This can’t be happening to me. This is not what my life is going to be!’”

Talisa was adamant about remaining independent. She had a first-floor apartment and didn’t want to move back home. Her support network took her to doctor appointments by day, and at night she would wake up to train. The pathway from her bedroom door to the patio door was a straight shot of about 10 feet. She was determined to walk it.

“I worked and I worked,” she says. “Some nights, it would take me an hour to walk it.”

She would fall and pull herself back up. Step after step, slow and steady, until the walk from the door to the patio seemed shorter, dropping to 45 minutes, and then 30 minutes. She continued this regimen for physical therapy. 

“I would tell my physical therapist, ‘I’m too young and too cute … This walk does not go with any of my outfits,’” Talisa jokes. 

There have been other challenges. Like many RA patients, Talisa also has developed comorbidities. She has hypothyroidism, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. “I’m on nine different medications, and not all of them are for RA,” she says. “I’ve been through hell and back, but I can’t just sit in the house and feel sorry for myself.”

Talisa went back to work at the juvenile detention center a year after her first episode with RA, but she lasted only an eight-hour shift. She realized she wasn’t strong enough yet for the job’s physical requirements and would need to find a new career. She later transferred to another county agency and got a promotion. Now, she’s chief program officer at YWCA Western New York.

“Being the Change”

She also found her community. Longing to connect with fellow RA patients, Talisa sent a letter to the Arthritis Foundation in 2017 complaining that there weren’t any support groups or services for people her age within eight hours of her home. “I felt that was unacceptable,” she says. “I thought about my grandmother Lelia and how I was raised. I offered myself up to be the change that I wanted to see.”

Talisa joined the Arthritis Foundation volunteer network, received a mentor, and in no time she was leading a support group and raising money for arthritis research. In 2018, she launched an annual Walk to Cure Arthritis team that has raised $85,000 to date. 

And she has found love. First, as a mom to her son, Devin, now 22. Then, as a partner. She met Damone Anthony at a family friend’s house. She thought he was nice. He kept calling her to catch up and even stopped by when she was sick. He didn’t care that she limps occasionally or uses a cane. Their relationship has been “game-changing,” she says.

“For him to be there through everything — the surgeries, the months of not being able to walk and having to help me up; knowing my meds and what medical team to call if things go wrong and I can’t respond — it’s been one hell of a bootcamp,” she jokes. “I know that he really cares about me.” 

Talisa says RA won’t stop her from living life to the fullest, and she hopes that others feel the same way. “We all go through funks, but what God has for you is for you,” she says. “You have got to get up, be positive, and see everything you achieve each day as a win.”