This is an IHeart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories,

the show where America is the star and the American people.

Up next, a story by Tim Hennessy.

He's an IT professional from Texas, and like so many families in America,

grappled with his own health issues, primarily pain.

Here is Tim Hennessy on the story of his own health journey.

Music Here is Tim Hennessy on the story of his own health journey.

The late 90s, I was in my late 30s, and I had all kind of health problems. On the outside, physically, I look pretty darn good.

You know, I worked out a couple hours a day.

I played racquetball for two or three hours. I lifted weights. So on the outside, it looked pretty good,

but on the inside, I felt like I was dying because I had chronic pains all day long. My elbow,

my knees, my back, had hard time sleeping. I had migraines literally a couple times a month.

The kind of migraines were you got to shut the light out from your eyes.

I used to put ice on my neck, lay down.

I had this pulsing, almost like you hear a drum, boom, boom, boom.

I had higher blood pressure, I had skin issues.

I would play racquetball and the next day I could barely walk down the stairs.

And I'm in my late 30s thinking, what's it going to be like if I make it to 50?

So I was recommended to visit a doctor in Calabasas, California, where I lived, and he was a pretty famous

doctor. A lot of Hollywood people would go see him, and he took a look at me, and he basically

diagnosed he with a form of autoimmune disease. When I looked at him, I said to him, doctor,

...