INPERSON
Power of
the Pen
South Fayette author publishes
books to help others cope with
chronic illnesses.
By Paul Glasser
A
uthor Ashley Boynes-Shuck hopes
publishing two memoirs about her
struggle with autoimmune diseases
will help others who also struggle with
chronic illness.
As a girl, she loved playing softball but
began to notice an abnormal amount
of pain and joint swelling. At age 10,
Boynes-Shuck was diagnosed with
juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which
is an autoimmune disease. Since then,
Boynes-Shuck has received a number of
additional diagnoses including lupus, celiac
disease and chronic migraines among
other conditions. She says it’s not unusual
for an individual to have more than one
autoimmune condition.
“When you have one autoimmune
disease, your body starts attacking healthy
tissue and healthy cells, which can lead to
other disease,” Boynes-Shuck says.
She began chronicling her struggle in a
blog, which was very cathartic. BoynesShuck grew up in South Fayette and now
lives in Green Tree. She had also enjoyed
writing when she was a student in the gifted
program at South Fayette Elementary
School.
“Writing was a nice distraction from
having to give up the sport that I loved,”
she says. “It was also a great outlet for
coping with chronic illness.” She decided
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to publish two memoirs to share her
experiences.
“My journey has been exceptionally
complex, but I’m not the only one who
faces that. I want younger people to see
they are not alone.”
In 2015, Boynes-Shuck self-published
her first memoir called “Sick Idiot.” The title
comes from something she said one day
when she felt very sick and discouraged.
“I am usually a positive person but one
day I had a meltdown,” she says. “I told
my husband I was nothing but a sick idiot,
which is one of the weirdest and most outof-character things for me to say. We had to
laugh about it.”
The book chronicles some of the
funny and unusual events that have
occurred in her life. Earlier this year she
published a complementary memoir, titled
“Chronically Positive,” that compiles some
of her most popular blog posts. It addresses
some of the same things she discusses in
“Sick Idiot” but “Chronically Positive” is
more inspirational than humorous.
“It takes a more raw and realistic look
at life with chronic illness,” she says. The
unpredictability of living with chronic
illness is one of the hardest things to deal
with, she says. “I can’t really say how I will
feel day-to-day or hour-to-hour.”
In addition, many people have
preconceived notions about what it means
to be sick, so the lack of empathy can also
be frustrating. “I don’t look sick, so—
because people c