THE AUTHOR

Carmine Petrangelo (shown at left) was born in West Warwick, Rhode Island in 1947, and is one of four brothers. He raised a child as a single parent for 13 years. He first developed Dystonia at the age of six. He has never known what it is like to be normal.

At the disease's worst point, at age 11, Carmine had lost control of his body when walking, standing and running. Shortly after, he began developing difficulty sitting because of the movements.

When Carmine was 17, he was finally properly diagnosed as having early onset Dystonia 11 years after the first symptoms appeared. For 7 of those 11 years he was accused of faking an illness to get attention.

Carmine began taking different kinds of medication until a combination was found that reduced the effectiveness of the Dystonia by around 80%. The improvement was remarkable though there have been recurrences that have been difficult.

He suffered an injury while working on Nuclear Powered Submarines in Gorton, Ct. which aggravated his dystonia condition and forced him to end his career.

He currently resides in Citrus County, Florida in the city of Inverness and is "surviving Dystonia" one day at a time.