Rachel DiStefano

After completing a year of schooling and training for clinically focused massage therapy involving modalities plus anatomy, pathology, and injury specifics, I moved to San Francisco. Within the month I was employed at an upscale day spa, and within two months, I’d been promoted to lead therapist. Six months after that, in early summer of 2004, I was disabled due to a coworker horsing around and found myself badly reeling from the shock of so abruptly losing both my livelihood and my mobility

Five years later, although still disabled, I’m in a much better place thanks to my two dearest friends and roommates going ridiculously out of their way to take care of me. My days are spent making calls in my continuing fight against worker’s compensation to get my injury treated, and going to any appointments I have scheduled. In between, I dabble at writing fiction stories, and also help a friend by writing the short web blurbs she needs for her animation convention and events. I also design tattoos for people my friends refer to me, and very recently started taking bellydance classes.

With practice and luck, I hope that adding bellydance to my attempts to rehab myself will help my bio look very different in the coming year.

Articles on Gilded Serpent by or about Rachel DiStefano

8-13-09 SharQui and Injury by Rachel DiStefano
I suffered a severe injury to my spine and sacroiliac joint that left me in constant agonizing pain, and worse, fully disabled. I was 23.