Theresa Johnson

Early life

Theresa was born in Mason City, Iowa, on February 7, 1966, daughter of Hazel Aleela (Elliott) and James Robert Thorpe Sr. Theresa is a sister to James Robert Thorpe Jr. (born October 9, 1961). Theresa was raised in Stewartville, Minnesota up until a move to Apalachin, New York in 1972 due to a job relocation for James Thorpe Sr. Theresa moved back to Stewartville, Minnesota in 1975 and went on to finish high school in 1984. Theresa later attended the Minnesota Bible College (Crossroads College) in Rochester, Minnesota in 1984 but left without a degree in 1986. While attending the Minnesota Bible College, Theresa married Alan Wade Buresh, Lutheran pastor, August 25, 1984. Theresa had five children, the first in 1986, the last, a set of twins, in 1996. After moving from Rochester, Minnesota, Theresa with Alan and two daughters moved to Dubuque, Iowa for Alan's seminar in the Wartburg Theological Seminary. After Alan finished seminary, the family of four moved to Posen, Michigan and then Wymore, Nebraska where their third daughter was born, and then to Storden, Minnesota where they finished their family with a set of twins. Theresa worked various jobs in Minnesota including assistant track coach for Lewiston High School from 1992–94, Paraprofessional at Lewiston High School also from 1992–94, a secretary KDOM radio 1999-2000, and a loan input and systems operator for the Heartland State Bank in Storden, MN from until 1995.

Career

Two years after the family of seven was complete, Theresa was hired as a Financial Assistance Specialist and an Employment Services specialist for the LIGGS program with Cottonwood County Family Services in Windom, Minnesota from 1995-99. After the county job, Theresa switched careers to the Minnesota Department of Human Services in St Paul, Minnesota as a business analyst from 1999-2005. Theresa became the president of the Minnesota Social Service Association in 2004.

Accomplishments

While working for the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Theresa became one of the founders of the Minnesota Electronic Child Care system, the first online child care assistance application. The Minnesota Electronic Child Care system is a Java application that helps improve the delivery of the Child Care Assistance Program specifically in Minnesota. As the president of the MSSA, Theresa spoke at a number of conferences including Minnesota Social Services Conference and Expo and at Minnesota Social Services Association assemblies around Minnesota. Theresa also spoke at the Domestic Abuse Project's Annual Fundraising Luncheon in Minneapolis in 2005.

Marriage

After moving careers to DHS, Theresa and the family moved to New Richmond, Wisconsin for easier transportation to St. Paul, Minnesota. Alan and Theresa split on September 1, 2005 and officially divorced October 12, 2006. In 2007, Theresa met David R. Johnson, a project manager for the Minnesota Department of Education and photographer, and was remarried on June 4, 2007.

Running

Starting in middle school in Stewartville, Minnesota, Theresa was in track. Continuing to high school, Theresa held the record for the 400m dash for many years. Theresa took a break from running competitively while she was raising her family, but kept with recreational running. When she found more time to train, Theresa partook in local 5 and 10ks, but ran her first marathon in June, 2007 at the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota with David. She ran again in the Grandma's Marathon in June, 2008. In October 2008, Theresa ran the Twin Cities Marathon with a time qualifying her for the Boston Marathon, but became ill and was unable to go on to do so.

Health

After running the Twin Cities Marathon, Theresa came down with an unexpected illness. By February 2009, Theresa's health continued to decline and was almost constantly hospitalized. In August 2009, Theresa was tested positive for a number autoimmune diseases and, in the fall, she tested positive for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Sjögren's Syndrome, and Rheumatoid Arthritis. With these diseases, Theresa is unable to work and is currently unemployed because so.

Writing

With the years of frequent hospitalizations passed, Theresa is now able to keep her diseases at a controlled pain tolerance with a number of different treatments. Some medications used for the specific Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Theresa suffers from include Corticosteroids and Antimalarials. Because Theresa's pain varies from day to day, she found comfort in reading and writing. In 2011, Theresa began writing in her blog, One Moment One Life. The blog started small, but Theresa's voice for Lupus sufferers began to be heard worldwide, eventually being recognized by the How To Be Sick author, Toni Bernhard. Toni Bernhard currently writes for Psychology Today and, in August 2014, she published an article done by Theresa titled When Chronic Illness Makes You World Weary. Theresa continues to write today.