While most teenagers were enjoying their summer, 17-year-old CedarBridge Academy student and aspiring poet Asha Ludwig was spending her time in hospital suffering from a debilitating and painful illness.

Asha found out about her disorder, dermatomyositis, in June after a visit to a physician.

Dermatomyositis, a progressive connective tissue disorder characterised by inflammatory and degenerative changes of the muscles and skin, affects five out of every one million people each year.

?I had it and didn?t even know until I went to the neurologist,? she said.

Asha said she had been feeling tired from a school trip in April but her energy never seemed to rebound afterward.

When she became more concerned about her health, her mother took her to her doctor. ?I could barely lift myself up to do a push up,? she said. ?So he sent me to a neurologist.

?After the testing the neurologist told my mother that it was serious. It was a Saturday and he told my mum that I would have to be in Boston by Monday,? said Asha.

The news left her feeling frightened. ?I thought I was going to die.?

Symptoms of the disease vary widely, but include aches in the upper arms, hips and thighs and muscles may be stiff, sore and tender.

Asha, who had never been in hospital before, found out that while there is no cure for the disease, it is not life-threatening.

While describing her time in Boston as ?not very good? she admitted finding a silver lining in the experience.

?My hospital stay helped me to get the rest I needed and also to write more poetry,? said Asha.

?Writing poetry really helped me to deal with a lot of the struggles that I was having. Without my pen I would have been very bored and depressed.?

Asha said that her friends were confused about what had happened to her.

?Everyone noticed that I had lost weight and was walking with a cane,? she said. ?I had to explain the disorder to them.?

Although some people were not sure how to react, Asha said it helped to joke about it.

?I told them that I just twisted my ankle while competing in the Olympics. We had a good laugh.

?It made a lot of my friends more comfortable to ask questions when I was not so serious.?

She said that her friends and family have been supportive and accommodating.

?Some of my friends aren?t used to me not being able to walk up steps and play around as much but they are accepting of my disorder.?

Asha said the disease has had both positive and negative effects. ?Physically it has been restricting. I love playing basketball and football but this has prevented me from doing the sports I love.?

Asha, who must take steroids to minimise the effects of the disease, cannot participate in gym class and instead goes to a physiotherapist to get her muscles strong again.

?I have to do a lot of things to keep myself active and strong,? she said.

She was relieved the illness struck during the summer so that she wouldn?t miss too much school.

Asha said the disease gave her a glimpse of what other people must deal with.

She said she never felt sorry for herself.

?Sometimes I wish I had the money to donate for research,? she said.

?Doctors don?t know how the disease is started and where it comes from and there?s no cure. It can go into remission but it can come back any time.?

She said the ordeal has strengthened her as a person and poet.

?Some people say ?why, me??, but my situation is small compared to many others.

?I choose to continue to grow stronger and hope for a cure for all the others who have a harder time with this than I did. How can I feel sorry for myself when there?s so much more to be happy for??