What 67 Surgeries Taught Carly About Starting Over
What most people see when they look at Carly Alyssa Thorne is a 4’11”, 105-pound woman with muscle and tattoos who shows up to the gym every single day. What they do not see is the port in her chest, the IV line for her morning and evening hydration, the night blindness, the 67 surgeries that have marked her body and her life. They do not see what it has taken to still be here. Carly, 62, of Woodland Hills, California, has spent her entire life carrying things most people will never have to imagine. She has also spent the last several years learning, finally, to put some of that weight down.
Born Into the Fight
Carly was born in 1964 with Congenital Rubella Syndrome, a condition that affects the bones, organs, and skin, after her mother contracted German measles during pregnancy. She was born autoimmune. Every day since has included some dimension of medical management: limited fluid intake, carefully controlled meals, regular treatments, and the quiet discipline of a body that requires constant attention. Her disabilities are almost entirely invisible to the outside world, which means she has spent decades absorbing the weight of her reality largely alone.
There was more she was carrying that no one could see. She grew up experiencing abuse. She has navigated depression for much of her life. She is also a widow. The losses and the pain compounded over the years in ways that eventually became impossible to hold.
There came a point, she says, where she had to make a choice: to keep living, or not. She chose life. She got the help she needed. And she began, slowly, to build a different relationship with herself and with the world. “I love myself,” she says now, “which is a huge statement, as years ago I couldn’t say that.”
What On Fire Looks Like After Everything
For the first time in her life, Carly recently had three consecutive months of normal inflammatory markers on her labs. For a woman who has spent 62 years managing a body in near-constant medical crisis, those three months represent something she does not take lightly. She describes the feeling as being on fire in a new way, passionate and free, and more like herself than she has been in a very long time.
She works out every day, pain or no pain. If she is sick, she works out at home. If not, she goes to the gym. She eats carefully and cleanly. She listens to frequency music. She takes time for stillness. These are not small things for a woman whose body has required 67 surgeries. They are the daily architecture of a life she has chosen, one decision at a time.
She is now a Transformational Leader and coach, using her own story to help others navigate pain, identity, and the question of what comes next. She believes deeply in collaboration, in the power of building alongside other people rather than alone. “Life is a play and we are the actors, producers, directors, editors of our life,” she says. “We can write and rewrite our story as many times as we want.”
What She Wants Women to Know
The shift Carly is most proud of is one nobody else can see. She honors her boundaries now without guilt. She says no to things that do not serve her and does not apologize for it. After a lifetime of invisible illness and visible resilience, she has arrived at something quieter and more hard-won than any of the 67 surgeries: the ability to take care of herself without treating it as weakness.
What she wants women reading her story to understand is simple and direct. Asking for help is not a weakness. You matter. And the story is never finished. “You are loved, appreciated, worthy, and beautiful,” she says. “And you can rewrite your story as many times as you want.”
She is on the cusp of what she calls truly living full out, no matter what is happening medically. After everything she has carried and everything she has survived, she is not winding down. She is, by every measure that matters, just getting started.
To connect with Carly Alyssa Thorne, visit carlyathorne.com or search her name across social platforms.
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