On A Roll

THIS NATIONAL BOWLING CHAMP WON’T BE KNOCKED DOWN.

- Jill Tyrer

For Jenny Wonders, 35, of Roscoe, Illinois, winning a national title at the 2019 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships was a feat she had worked and suffered for in ways her competitors couldn’t imagine.

Jenny grew up in a bowling family: Her father, who owns a bowling alley, is a five-time national champ, and her uncle recently retired as owner of a bowling ball company. Jenny started bowling at age 4 and won her first state tournament at 19 – despite the pain and fatigue from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

LIFE-CHANGING DIAGNOSIS

Jenny was diagnosed at age 11, and although her family was supportive, living with lupus was hard; children and adults made unkind comments about her rashes and illnesses. “At school, I was constantly accused of faking sick because I didn’t look sick,” she recalls.