Our Witness: The Battle to Live Through a Rare and Incapacitating Disease

Struck by a series of puzzling, painful symptoms. Nearly paralyzed and in a nursing home at age 47. Failed by conventional medicine, but discouraged from pursuing experimental treatment. African-American army veteran Timesia Hart is a survivor of the rare neurological disease neuromyelitis optica (NMO). In Our Witness, she shares both the darkest and most inspiring parts of her ten-year journey to figure out what was happening to her body, and to find a cure in spite of both debilitating disease and medical resistance. Our Witness also shares the stories of those closest to Timesia, as they struggled through watching a loved one suffer through pain, disability, and depression, with doctors holding out "little hope of recovery." A compelling, heart-driven memoir, Our Witness is an affirmation that there is hope in the darkest hour. For patients and those who love them, it is a reminder that others have been down this path before and found their way. Timesia Hart is the founder of the Living to Win Foundation, dedicated to serving and empowering patients and their families who are fighting rare neurological diseases. www.livingtowin.org Prior to her own experience with a rare and debilitating neurological disease, Hart served in the U.S. Army, then went home to southeast Texas to work at a community health center. After moving to Northwest Arkansas with her husband, she worked at the VA Medical Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, as a patient representative serving veterans and their families. Hart was born at home in southeast Texas, the fifth child of eight. She is married and has three daughters and two granddaughters. Her greatest joy comes from serving Jesus Christ through the ministry of music.