I’m not sure which mattered more to Johnson & Johnson – that I was a musician with a pretty substantial national following or that I was a broke-a** musician without health insurance, but a huge thanks to them.  However, let me rewind a bit. For those of you who may not know, I have been a chronic psoriasis sufferer since I was 15 years old.  It has been a huge source of frustration to me as I work through physical pain, social stigmas, and in general just feeling uncomfortable in my own skin.  When the new ground-breaking medication ‘Stelara’ was introduced late last year, I was sure it would be a long time until I would ever be able to try it.  At $5000 per shot and several shots per year, the annual medication can be well over $20,000 – not to mention it must be administered and monitored by a licensed dermatologist. So this week I was thrilled to discover that Johnson & Johnson would be providing me with the medication at no charge throughout 2010.  I’ll blog about my progress with the medication, on occasion, and post updates and possibly before-n-after photos (if I can find some that I don’t feel are gross).  Stelara works on a brand new principle, utilizing the latest in psoriasis research; each injection blocks a specific set of proteins that (and this is my non-doctor explanation) somehow confuse my immune system and result in psoriasis.  Friday, April 2nd, will be my first injection. If you suffer from psoriasis and want to find out more about Stelara, go to:  http://www.stelarainfo.com/