Twinkle was diagnosed in 2003 with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome/Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (CRPS/RSD), a painful, debilitating and often progressive central nervous system disorder. A spinal cord stimulator has helped manage her pain, and she has expanded her advocacy efforts on behalf of those with neuropathic pain disorders from online to in-person events. As advocacy director and executive board member for the Power of Pain Foundation, Twinkle works on policy efforts, patient awareness and many other aspects of chronic pain.

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Source: Twinkle Vanfleet | 2015 honoree

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I learned in September that I was chosen as a 2015 Bakken Honoree. It didn’t seem real. My pill is my Spinal Cord Stimulator. It has been since 2006. So when I’m advocating for pain medication, I’m not advocating for me, I’m advocating for options and for those who need them to be able use them safely. I don’t disagree that there is a problem with abuse or misuse, but I don’t agree that it’s due to the reasons put forth in the mass push that one thing leads to another. It isn’t always so.

When I say, we, or us, I’m including myself to not dismiss someone else from me. I’m no better than the person who needs the pain reliever to survive and I’m no less than the one who doesn’t.

Andrea Volfova

Prague, Czech Republic
Cardiovascular disease

Bhim Mahat

Kathmandu, Nepal
Cardiovascular disease

David Simmonds

Prince Edward (Wellington), Canada
Parkinson’s disease

Juan Carlos Hernández Corredera

Salamanca, Spain
Barrett’s esophagus

Kerry Kalweit

Pretoria, South Africa
Type 1 Diabetes

Lisa Visser

Orono, Minnesota, United States
Sudden Cardiac Arrest due to a heart defect

Qi Zhang

Beijing, China
Type 1 Diabetes

Sheila Vasconcellos

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Type 1 Diabetes

Dr. Thomas Okello

Kamapala, Uganda
Damaged heart valves due to Rheumatic Heart Disease

Twinkle VanFleet

Sacramento, California, United States
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Type 2

Vincent Browne

Galway, Ireland
Cardiovascular Disease

Tanya Hall

Melbourne, Australia
Cardiac Arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation

http://bakkeninvitation.medtronic.com/honorees-winners/

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Only 2 of the 12 Honorees are from the United States. I’m one of those 2. Each honoree has an amazing story to share and is living with a form of medical technology. I advocate for these options as well. Without force or mislead intentions, options are what allow us hope and survival. It isn’t about Pharmaceuticals, invasive treatments, or the non-invasive it’s about what relieves each individual. What might work for me, may not assist another and what may not assist me, may respond to someone else.

I could have removed the body piercings from my life. I could have. They didn’t evolve from nothing other than pain in the first place. Each piercing multiplied as a diversion to pain during the time when I was left in medical limbo. They were my self-medication. No! Not everyone becomes an addict. Not everyone in unrelenting pain seeks more and not everyone turns to heroin. I’ve taken enough in my lifetime and I’m not nor have I ever been in the classification of this epidemic. I leave the piercings so that you will judge me. Falsely judge me. It’s your mistake, not mine. It’s your perception, what you create and believe in your mind. I chose to fight pain, and learn from it. I chose to use the tools provided to me in the multidisciplinary approach and in the Medtronic Spinal Cord Stimulation and I choose to maintain the lowest dose of a single type of pain medication in order to allow me to function enough to get out of the home a few times a year, weight bare enough to feed my dogs, not be confined to a wheelchair, advocate with the Power of Pain Foundation, watch my grandson grow, be a part of my children’s lives and care give to my husband of nearly 30 years.

I’m not able to drive; I have to rely on someone else. I have to work around their time, schedules and life in order have that ride.

Sometimes it’s enough to want to give up, but I haven’t. The Power of Pain Foundation has honored me in my decline and ability as much as I have honored them in all that they do. It’s for this reason that they are the grant recipient for my award.

Only once in a lifetime are you recognized for something so humbling and it was for nothing more than using my new life to live on and give on because that is what I’ve done.

It’s truly an honor! Thank you Dr. Bakken!

To be continued