If you are into social networking, there’s a very good chance that you already know BUTTERFLYWHEEL. She’s everywhere! She connects with people easily and befriend them. If you need it, she takes you under her wings. When I wrote that, I think I just understood why she chose the ID “Butterflywheel”

Her real name is Monica J. Foster. She’s 35 and resides in North Carolina. She’s married to Bryan Foster who she met online. She has Spina Bifida from birth and is paralyzed from the knees down. She is a “full-time, independent wheelchair user”. She also has Depression since her teens.

Does this stop her? Not in any way possible. Monica feels that the only obstacles she faces is other people’s attitudes towards people with disabilities. What she’s done so far is get her English degree from Pfeiffer University, was a reporter, a professional disability civil rights advocate at a nonprofit and then earned a life and career coaching certification from The Life Purpose Institute, an International Coaching Federation (ICF)-accredited coaching program.

She built her own business which is ongoing, BUTTERFLYWHEEL Life Transition Coaching, Etc. where she is a “life transition coach for people with disabilities and chronic illness, motivational speaker, accessibility consultant and disability awareness trainer”.

To know her is to love her, learn from her, laugh with her and be inspired by her. She doesn’t see obstacles rather “challenges to overcome”. Meet her on Twitter and on her Butterflywheel Effect Blog. She is now writing for BellaOnlne on their Disabilities Section. And don’t forget about her coaching site. If you spend more time with her than you can on those other sites, I’m sure you’ll grow as a person in more ways than you can imagine.

This is an ongoing effort to spotlight people with chronic illness, health issues and disabilities who are making a contribution in some way despite their pain, sickness, etc.

I met craftyGAgal on Twitter and learned about how she succeeds in business through chronic pain. We connected on Facebook too. The more I’ve learned about her and her drive to make and sell crafts and to blog, the more I wanted to share her positive attitude and her beautiful work with my readers.

craftyGAgal’s real name is Meredith Crosby. She is 31 years old, married and has twin boys who are 7 years old. When she was a young girl, she was involved in a boating accident and injured her back. Her condition worsened after her pregnancy due to carrying twins and the weight gain that went along with it. She also has scoliosis and has had to endure a spinal fusion and a costoplasty- where they removed several centimeters of five of her ribs to remove a hump that was in her back due to the scoliosis. The ribs are then left broken to heal back together. She had two titanium rods put into my back, 13 screws and lots of other hardware. These were both very painful operations.

Meredith describes her condition as, “Constant never ending Pain, numbness in limbs and sometimes lips, unable to do anything for long periods of time, depression, anxiety, loss of social life…” But she has a loving and supportive husband and her children love her unconditionally. She is part of the Invisible Illness group because she doesn’t look disabled and has friends and even some family members who don’t understand her situation and her chronic pain.

After being told that she could not work, she began crafting for fun and to keep her mind busy and occupied. She makes stained glass, beaded and gemstone jewelry and crochets baby items and hats. She has a store on Etsy – craftyGAgal, where she takes custom orders and lists new items every day.

*Important* If you shop at her Etsy store between now and the end of the day on July 6th, put in a code “MyChronicLife” to the “Note to Seller” area you will get a 10% discount.

Get to know her and her bubbly personality on Twitter and on Facebook, where she’s also known as Southern Handmade Gifts. She’ll have you laughing, I promise! And if you think that isn’t enough, visit her blog, craftyGAgal’s Southern Handmade Gifts.

This is an ongoing effort to spotlight people with chronic illness, health issues and disabilities who are making a contribution in some way despite their pain, sickness, etc.