Updated October 09, 2014.

Many people with chronic arthritis become disabled, having to change jobs or even end their careers prematurely. Tamara Nowakowsky, was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis at a very tender age, yet she never gave up her drive to be successful. Her story is inspirational to anyone who lives with chronic pain and knows how limiting that can be. Tamara has taken a career path, and made transitions which have allowed her to continue working - from television reporter, to communications specialist, to business woman.

You were diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis at age 6. How did it affect you at school, keeping up with homework, making friends?

Grade school was an incredibly difficult time for me.

At that tender age it feels like it is the most important thing in the world to be like the other kids in order to fit in and suddenly I was "different". After my diagnosis, my physical activity was restricted because at that time doctors thought the best treatment was rest and not much movement, so over the summer between grades 1 and 2, I became a much different little girl. Add to that the fact that I was pulled out of school early twice a week to go to the city to get physio and shots, and all the kids thought was that I was being treated special and that made me a bit of a focus for ill feelings and misunderstanding.

I attempted to continue on with my gymnastics classes as I truly loved that sport, but it eventually became too difficult for me when I could no longer do a cartwheel, and somersaults were getting painful. That was a very difficult time as I had an older sister who continued on in competitive gymnastics, and I would go to her competitions and cry on the sidelines.

Instead of focusing on the physical side of life though, I developed a voracious appetite for reading and writing and also started things like the drama club and debate and speech competition.

That would prove to be incredibly valuable to my future career. University was tremendously challenging as I went through numerous flares. Whether it was the stress of classes and tests, having moved out of my parent's house, or just a period I was going through I don't know. Going to class, sitting still for the block and then having to get up and rush to my next class was very very difficult.

I took five years instead of the usual four years to get my undergraduate degree. I had a few surgeries during those years as well, but I did get through it, and it is one of the achievements that make me feel the most fulfilled.

In spite of developing rheumatoid arthritis at such a young age you were able to carve out a very visible career as a "live on location" television reporter. How did you choose this career? Did you go to college prior to becoming a TV reporter?

It was really unusual that I became a television reporter - certainly it was not something I would have ever imagined for myself in my wildest dreams, growing up on a farm, as a child with a disability. I like to say that I did not choose the career - it chose me!

I was working my way through university, heading to law school, with all sorts of side jobs to pay my way through. Every now and again I would audition for a commercial and even got a few of those. Once a production company saw my audition reel for a project and they called and offered me something else. That job was as host of a series of teen talk segments - my youthful appearance helped the kids relate to me well yet I was mature and well-spoken on-camera. That job led to other segment reporting and before I knew it, law school was on hold. It was a complete turn-around for what I had intended to do with my life - I wanted to be a lawyer since a young age - but it felt right. I loved the idea that I was not the norm in television reporting, that I was someone who looked a little different and who could maybe be a positive role model for other young people with physical issues.

Go On To Part 2 ------- Career Transitions ------->