Two Middle Fingers in the Air - MS
Exactly one year ago this week I started experiencing double vision.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to drive when you see a car driving at you in your lane and another it the opposite lane with no way of knowing which is real?
Do you know what happens with your brain when it’s overloaded from double the normal information?
It shuts down. It goes black. You freeze in the middle of presentations unable to read the screen or speak.
That was my life a year ago. Six weeks into a new role, and this is what life brought.
Another six weeks of doctor appointments and tests would reveal brain swelling, multiple lesions on the brain and spine.
Diagnosis, Multiple Sclerosis.
A life changer.
I spent the next two months in treatment. Twelve - 3 hour steroid infusions to reduce the swelling. Two - 5 hour infusions of medication to get the MS under control.
The next month I was hiking to the top of Mount Washington with my family.
The month after that I was back to competing in a half marathon.
Life is full of challenges.
How you approach them is what defines you.
Me, I’m defined by giving MS two middle fingers in the air.
On Sunday, April 21, I’ll be running in another half marathon, hoping to get my times bac’ around the 2 hour mark.
Then on Sunday, April 28, I’ll be walking in #walkms.
If you haven’t already, I’d appreciate a donation in support. I’m so close to my goal.
Read Next
All Stories →Forged in the Fires of Mt. Doom
I wasn't literally forged in the fires of Mt. Doom. But you’d have a hard time convincing me the burns weren't real.
I’ll never be who I was, but I’ll always be who I am.
Chronic illness is a series of subtractions. Multiple Sclerosis takes things from you. It takes your gait, your vision, your predictable mornings, and your physical ease. You can’t go back to the person you were before the 'Phantom Fire' and the 'Double Vision' became your daily reality.