Karen Ager - Biography

Karen Ager is a first-time author and tenured teacher at the United Nations International School in New York. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at 17, Karen has worked relentlessly to raise public awareness of the disease. Karen has been featured in Arthritis Today (cover and story Jan/Feb 2011), Reader’s Digest Health Smart magazine (October 2010), New Idea (August 2010), Grazia magazine (June 2010), Remedy MD and Healthy Living magazines (Spring 2008), Shape magazine (February 2006), the New York Daily News (February 2005), Sydney Morning Herald (September 2002) and Time magazine Australia (July 2002).
Television appearances have included the U.S. Today Show (October 2007), and WPIX-TV Channel 11 Unsung Hero story (May 2003). She is currently booked to appear on the Australian national television show The Circle which is Australia’s version of The View.

U.S. Radio interviews have recently included NPR - WTBQ-AM, WYYZ-AM, WRPN-AM, WYYZ- AM , 89.9 FM, 88.7 FM, 91.7 FM - Troy University Public Radio, 96.9 FM Boston Talks - It’s Your Health Radio, WOCA-FM, WDIS-FM, Cable Radio Networks – A Touch of Grey.

Karen has also been interviewed on many Australian Radio programs including 2GB, 4GR, ABC Classic FM – Margaret Throsby Show, ABC Tasmania Statewide, ABC Canberra, ABC– Darwin, ABC– Cairns, 2ST, 2GB – Chris Smith Show. Numerous regional newspapers across Australia have also featured stories on Karen.

Karen serves on the Board of Governors for the New York Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, has consulted on the Arthritis Foundation’s Women of Distinction Committee in New York, and often speaks at fundraisers and advocacy events. She is founder of the Karen and Arthritis Support group and website. She is an active blogger about positively managing the challenges of arthritis. Karen is a proud ‘Dream Board’ member of the Jeffrey Gottfurcht Children’s Arthritis Foundation.

Book Hooks

Readers travel from the tranquil beaches of Australia to the hectic streets of New York, as the author cleverly uses her own life as a stepping stone to unravel the universal concept of how to move forward from a place of pain and anger, toward acceptance and happiness. Enemy Within is the memoir of a woman's 30 year battle with rheumatoid arthritis. While the disease is the thread that weaves the story together, Karen's memoir is less about her outer journey and fighting the ravages of her disease, and more about her relentless pursuit of happiness and inner peace  as she tries to navigate her way around her parent's divorce, disability, domestic violence and her own marital breakdown due to her battle with infertility.

As readers move with the author through times of complex stress, they accompany her on a path that leads to healing. With remarkable candor, courage and humor, Karen chronicles triumphs and heartbreaks, grief and love, fear and hope, misery and joy. Finally, she understands the 'chapter' that really matters is the inner journey, and that happiness can be found through accepting what can't be changed; surrendering to the 'enemy'. The irony is that through 'surrender' she gains inner strength and power. Distilled through the author's own story, the reader is invited to contemplate questions of love, hope and happiness in their own lives. The outcome is a truly inspirational memoir with many layers of self discovery for all who read it.