Meet Sissy Freeborn

This photo shows two of my loves...
my mountain and my horse.
My third love, Frank, is holding the camera.

Hello! My name is Katherine Loretta Freeborn. But, I have been called "Sissy", since I was 17. I live in northern Georgia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I am married to my high school sweetheart, Frank. I have two daughters who are now married, and they have given us five grandkids.

In the 70s, I became a mid wife and health practitioner, learned to fly a twin engine plane and bought my first horse to ride up my beautiful mountain. I loved singing and playing my violin, sitting by the fire and eating scones and drinking hot mulled cider. I had a perfect life. I ran a mile each day, ran several organizations and thought life could not get much better.

Then in the mid 80s, things began to happen to my body that I could not understand. I kept dropping things and tripping over invisible objects. At first, I put it off as just getting old, but things got worse. It began to destroy my marriage and the relationship between my family and friends. It would cause me to lose my balance at times, slur my speech and other more embarrassing things that I could not ignore. But the doctors could not find anything wrong. My family believed I was deliberately causing the symptoms to get attention. I lost many so called "friends" that way.

Then in June '89, I got up late at night to go to the bathroom (another of my new problems). I got half way across the bedroom when my legs stopped working and I fell heavily on the floor. My husband carried me back to bed and called the doctor, who said I had the flu (high temp and all the symptoms). But, he was concerned and when I recovered, he ordered a spinal tap. Next, he asked me to get an MRI. I still had no balance from the incident and my right leg was numb.

When the MRI results came back, my doctor took us into his office and said that I had Multiple Sclerosis and that all the things I had been experiencing were due to MS. Before I could deal with that, he dropped the other shoe! THERE WAS NO CURE!  I would suffer the symptoms until a cure could be found, and it was probable that I would get worse.

During 1997, I had to face facts. I could not walk further than a few feet and was given a wheelchair –me, a woman who used to run a mile each day.  I am still dealing with it, but I know I will overcome this as well.

My focus has changed. Life seems to be sweeter today. To some of my friends, I no longer have a perfect life. But I still believe that I have a wonderful life. Today I see the beauty in an early morning on my mountain. I love the smell of cooking peaches, the love in my husband's eyes and the laughter of my grandchildren.

I still have everything I have always wanted. Except now, I know everything is real!   
Love, Sissy