Throughout her life, Karen Steward has sailed many rough seas, but it is her spirit and sense of humor that has helped her get through it all. When Steward discovered her daughter’s crippling illness, she did not give up hope. Instead, she stood strong and got ready for the fight of her life. Steward’s book, Doctors: Bound By Secrecy? Victims: Bound By Pain!, tells the story of that fight, and how hope and love conquers all.

Steward’s daughter suffered from pain for 13 years, and was continually misdiagnosed by the US medical community. After exploratory surgery of her pelvic organs, adhesions were revealed. Adhesions, sometimes known as ARD (Adhesion Related Disorder) are bands of scar tissue which cause the internal organs to become fused together. Because not much is known about ARD, the disorder is often misdiagnosed or ignored by the medical community. Steward and her daughter eventually made their way to Europe to seek help with an adhesion specialist. It was then that Steward learned the complex nature of this illness and why her daughter did not get help in the USA. Determined that no other young girl suffer as her daughter had, Steward became vocal about this illness.

Steward has since championed for ARD awareness. Along with sharing her story, Steward created the ARD ribbon, a double-sided piece that represents the scope of the disorder. The black side represents the darkness that surrounds the sufferer as well as the darkness that surrounds the disorder, as it is a medically hushed illness, cloaked in silence among the medical community at large. The striped portion refutes the long-standing mantra that doctors learn in medical school: “when you hear hoof beats, look for horses, not zebras,” meaning, most ailments are common and rare ailments are rare. Thus, the zebras of the world often fall through the cracks, leaving them to suffer in illness; lost in a medical world whose focus is only on “horses.”

However, it is her grace and humility that makes Steward’s efforts memorable. To help remove the binds ARD has caused, Steward uses humor and positive energy in all of her endeavors. An extremely creative person who loves reading, writing, and painting, Steward directs E.L.M. Publishing, Inc., a women-owned corporation for the purpose of publishing her own works and works of other women. Along with her book about ARD, Steward has written a large array of humorous poems for the marketplace. Steward’s story of victory has given ARD sufferers a voice, and was written to inspire, educate and provide hope.