Walking the Walk

by Liz Thompson

March 2008
Written for MS Awareness Month

My doctor asked me if I could walk the length of a football field. I hadn’t since high school in the late 60’s so I couldn’t answer. “Can you put that in everyday terms I could relate to?” I asked. “Can you walk around the block?” No, not anymore.  

I Googled the question and a football field is 360 feet in length. It doesn’t sound that far to me, but it might as well be a mile which is 5,280 feet or the equivalent of roughly 14 football fields.

Enough math; besides what I’m talking about is walking. I miss it. Because I have multiple sclerosis, I miss the pure joy of setting out for a walk in the neighborhood, a park, or at a city event without thinking about it; without looking for my cane, or my husband’s strong arm, and without thinking I should be using my new power chair.

It’s not something I think about every day since I have adapted to live while projecting a positive attitude about life in general. But some things really bring it to mind.

March is MS Awareness Month where the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) and all its chapters try to make people aware of how MS affects thousands of people and their families. The local Walk MS 2008 is April 12 at the Columbus Zoo. This year I formed a team called Thompson’s Trekkers but I will be rolling along in my power chair (motorized wheelchair) while others may be power walking. Thank God I have the chair and that I have friends and family wanting to help out and some joined the team. Two childhood friends are taking part and one is coming from Sandusky. I am grateful.

The Leveque Tower is lit in orange the month of March as a reminder it is MS Awareness Month.

Last fall I applied for a power chair through Social Security. I was approved and finally obtained my chair this last January. It is called an all terrain chair – meaning I really get mud in the large wheels if I get off the paved path – with all the bells and whistles because no one knows the course of MS which is different for everyone.

I was diagnosed in 1987 but was symptomatic since at least 1970. So I have been living with it my entire adult life and didn’t know it until I was 36. As recently as two years ago, I could have walked that 5,280 feet, most likely while using a cane, but I could have gone the distance. My progression is slow and I take a disease modifying medication, Copaxone, in the form of a daily shot which I’m convinced is helping.

Before I was diagnosed with MS, the doctor thought I was having a series of strokes. That threw me for a loop and when a new symptom, such as slurred speech, numbness, imbalance or double vision hit I feared another stroke. Knowing this, you might understand better that when I was diagnosed with MS I was relieved. I asked the doctor if it could kill me. He said it would not, if I took care of myself.

There were no MS drugs in 1987, only a few books on the subject and they were very medically oriented, and no Internet or clear ways to find answers.

Today, thanks to MS research and dedicated people, there are four disease modifying drugs and others used less often. New discoveries are on the horizon and with the Internet, the NMSS offers information on every aspect of MS. MSWorld.org offers the NMSS safe message boards and chat rooms to meet others with MS, their friends, families and caretakers. Life has improved yet every hour someone is diagnosed with MS. Every hour.

Our team is walking for those who cannot, or may not be able to someday. The NMSS funds more MS research than any other private organization. The NMSS supports studies which hope to reveal the cause and course of the disease. They also provide education, programs, and services to everyone who is affected by MS - including the diagnosed, their friends and families, and the healthcare professionals who work with them.

I know personally how the NMSS’s Ohio Buckeye Chapter has helped me. This is one way for me to give back and say thank you.

Please take a moment to check out www.MSohiobuckeye.org for more information. Check out the Walk MS 2008 pages. If you happen to see Thompson’s Trekkers, check us out and maybe donate a dollar or two. No amount is too small. It won’t be wasted, I guarantee.

Published in Suburban News Publications
03-08
 

Liz Thompson is a freelance writer and former Suburban News Publications reporter who lives in Grove City with her husband, Bob.

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