Troy A. Thompson, M.D. is a physician residing in Saint Joseph, Michigan, practicing family medicine since 1998. After marrying his magnificent, musical wife, Lori, in 1991, he became the father of five dynamic children: two born naturally; three adopted internationally.
By the age of twelve he had already suffered much. A gifted student, he resolved, at the appropriate time, he would write for a global audience of the joys discoverable through hardship. But his personal difficulties kept accruing, one skull fracture after another, worsening substantially in college with recurrent malaria and a nose fracture on a diving board. His writing dream was crushed by circumstances, but never destroyed. Unexpectedly, his ongoing struggles became the platform for his purpose; his experience would not go to waste.
Over decades he battled personally with every aspect of fibromyalgia–a severe pain disease far more commonly seen in elderly women than in young men—and yet he persevered. He learned about the medical options with the most benefit, including low-dose naltrexone, and the scores of coping techniques available to all. In his 30’s he could barely walk to his mailbox; in his 40’s he ran a 3:05 marathon; in his 50’s he deadlifted 500 pounds. Through thirty years of pain, he gained an understanding of his chronic disease unmatched by all the medical textbooks ever written.
For five years after his most momentous health breakthrough—an improvement comparable in magnitude to surviving cancer or rising from the dead–he desired to reach the millions of people still suffering in secret, those whose disease process had not yet been identified, whose therapeutic options were not yet known. He wanted to guide them, as many as would follow, out from their deepest prisons and into the healing warmth of the sunshine, the gentle touch of the summer breeze. But to help them meant returning to his own prisons, and he could not yet do it. The emotional trauma was far too close. His thought process and physical pain were still intertwined.
At last, the time came when the healing was nearly complete. He could write with abandon about pain without himself crumbling in agony. Finally, he could create brand new lands where only those who suffered the most became the heroes. He needed this new world—one still anchored in reality–but bursting afresh with distraction and delight. Within that realm, even the most egregious of suffering could be explored, understood, and overcome. The foundation of that universe has just been laid. Friends have been summoned, the stones have been gathered, the fire has been lit, and the meat is already sizzling on the spit. The greatest adventures are about to begin, and the wonderland starts with Crumble’s End.
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