Life in a Body Slowly Turning To Bone: Kathleen’s Story

Kathleen Degenhardt lives with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), an ultra-rare connective tissue disorder that turns muscle, tendons, and ligaments to bone.

For Kathleen, treatment innovation and a tight-knit support community have been instrumental to her living a good life with FOP. Now, Kathleen shares her story in hopes of increasing awareness of the telltale symptoms of this rare disease, and as a means of combatting the isolation of being "rare."

For more information about FOP, including symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and community support, visit https://www.focusonfop.com/en-ca/.

If you or someone you know is living with FOP, connect with the Canadian FOP Network at http://www.cfopn.org/.