Photo by Sofia Kinachtchouk.

Lene Andersen has spent several years distilling her almost encyclopedic knowledge into Your Life with Rheumatoid Arthritis, a wise and witty guide on how to manage your RA and make the best of your life.

Lene — pronounced Lena — is an award-winning writer living in Toronto, Canada.

In 2004 a very serious RA flare changed her life. After months of this flare taking away much of her health and ability, Lene started taking one of the new biologic medications. She believes it gave her a second chance at life. When faced with the question of how to honour this second chance, she decided to pursue her lifelong dream of being a writer. As she gained strength, she began to write professionally, winning several awards for nonfiction, as well as for her blog The Seated View. Lene has also been the Community Leader of HealthCentral.com’s RA site since 2008, where she continues to use a combination of her personal and professional experience to inform her readers about the many aspects of RA and how to live well with this chronic illness.

Born and raised in Denmark, Lene has had rheumatoid arthritis since she was four years old. This gives her over four decades of experience with the disease and everything that comes with it. She spent much of her childhood in and out of hospitals. By the time Lene was in her mid-teens, RA had damaged her joints so much that she needs to use a power wheelchair.

She and her family emigrated to Canada in the early 80s. Lene attended the University of Toronto, graduating with a B.Sc. in Psychology and later a Masters Degree in Social Work. She has worked in the healthcare, human rights and equal opportunity fields, specializing in health and disability issues.

Join Lene on the blog for this book, Facebook, Twitter, and her personal blog. You can also email her at lene@yourlifewithra.com.