MONCTON – Rob Milner is one of those people who’s had to claw his way through life in order to follow his passion.
“It hurts every day, everything I do hurts. But not as bad as it used to.”
Milner says he suffers from a debilitating joint condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis.
“It’s a severe form of rheumatoid arthritis that affects every joint in the body, especially the spine,” he said.
At one point he says his condition got so severe, he was unable to walk or work. Milner has been a factory worker most of his life.
“I had been given three months left to live.”
Milner says he made himself a promise. If he could somehow survive he would change his life and follow his dream of becoming a sculptor.
But the odds were stacked against him.
Milner also has a condition that has left him legally blind in one eye, which means he has no depth perception. He says doctors told him he’ll never be able to carve out a career for himself as an artist.
But now, seven years later, he is in remission and clawing his way back.
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“All of the ligaments had shortened and the muscles had gotten weak and it took me time to get strong enough to be able to do all this stuff,” he said. “I am the happiest when I am carving and doing what I love and I haven’t looked back since.”
His joints still ache every day, but doing what he loves somehow numbs the pain.
“It hurts a whole lot less when you can focus on something you love. It sets the mind free.”
Now Milner says he wakes up every morning at his new home in Moncton feeling grateful simply to be able to do what he loves. He travels around the Maritimes and is slowly making a name for himself in the art world.
“I travel around from community to small community and work and get invited by businesses to come for a few days and perform and then go to another place and another place and keep on smiling and have a good time,” he said.
Which, believe it or not, is posing a bit of a problem in his new-found career, referring to an eagle carving he’s working on.
“Some people like a dark art. I try to make them look mad but they always kinda look like they are smiling.”
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