With a Caribbean cruise with friends booked for November and a job she loves, Ashley Kurpiel, 31, considers herself lucky. But she has struggled all her life with a condition that is slowly turning her muscles into solid bone - and has already cost her her right arm.
Now, the 31-year-old is hoping to experience as much of life as she can before her muscles seize up for good.
Ashley is one of an estimated 700 people worldwide with Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP), an incurable disease sometimes known as 'stone man syndrome' because its devastating effects can leave sufferers completely immobilized, like living statues.
31歲的女子 Ashley Kurpiel 對於她11月即將與朋友共乘加勒比遊輪而感到幸運。不過她從小罹患一種罕見疾病，面臨全身肌肉逐漸鈣化。Ashley Kurpiel 因此失去右臂，但她仍樂觀對抗病魔，認為自己很幸運能保有活動力，還希望盡情享受人生。
她是全球約700名「進化性肌肉骨化症」患者之一，是不治的極罕見疾病，對身體有破壞性的影響力，患者的肌肉會逐漸固化，所以又稱「珊瑚人」，患者有如活雕像。
