Local family fights back against MS

‘Living with Multiple Sclerosis’

In fall of 2008 my youngest sister became ill. She was extremely tired and the right side of her body was tingly or numb and she could barely write. As a single mother of elementary school children, she was very frustrated with this strange virus. Casey and Kayla spent several days at my house while their mother went to doctors. At 26 years old, no one wanted to say the words that seemed to be prevalent. After a number of MRI’s in April of 2009, Sarah was finally was told by a team of doctors that she had Multiple Sclerosis, there was no cure and no one knew what to expect next.

A lot of the time, Sarah feels like she has the flu, she can no longer drive for long periods and has banned herself from driving on the freeway. She was told that if she could become pregnant her MS would go into remission, but her brain has already communicated with her hormones that there is a problem. She has been told by specialists that she will not be able to conceive with her own eggs; though this may have nothing to do with her MS diagnosis.

I must say that I am very thankful for her new husband. At the time of her first episode Sarah and Erik were already planning their wedding and since he was about to leave the military, they chose to bump the wedding ceremony up so that Sarah could benefit from his excellent insurance. I am sure Sarah’s sleepless nights, mood swings and general feeling of ickiness, due to the medication she takes have been a burden at times, but he has taken on their ready-made family and my sister’s untimely illness with valor.

During a rather inconvenient episode, Casey and Kayla, again, came to stay with my mother and me while Erik took care of his wife. 7 ½ year old Casey berated me with questions while we drove through town. His 6 year old sister sat silent in her car seat while I explained that I wanted him to wait for his mom to tell him what was going on, since I didn’t know what she wanted him to know. Finally he paused for a moment and then with all the seriousness of Judge, questioning an accused kidnapper, he said, “Is my mom going to die?”

MS affects about 2.5 million Americans. Every week about 200 people are diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. MS is a chronic and often disabling autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system which includes the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. Damage to the myelin (or protective sheath) in the central nervous system and to nerve fibers themselves interfere with the transmission of nerve signals. This is what causes the primary symptoms of MS which come and go throughout the course of the disease. These symptoms vary according to the amount of damage that has occurred.

MS is not contagious or directly inherited; although this does increase your chance of having MS. People with MS may suffer from Fatigue, Numbness, Problems with Balance and Coordination, Bladder and/or Bowel Dysfunction, Problems with Vision, Speech, Hearing, and Cognitive Senses, Sexual Dysfunction, Pain and Depression or Mood Swings.

Women are found to have MS 2-3 times more often then men and although people are generally between the ages of 20 and 50 when they are first diagnosed, MS has been found in young children, teens and much older adults.

There is no cure for MS, however there are several FDA-Approved, Disease-Modifying Agents that doctors use to try to slow down the effects of MS. Sarah has been taking weekly injections of Avonex since she was diagnosed.

Sarah had an episode that struck in July of 2009. She bent down to pick something up and felt a surge of what felt like electricity shooting down her spine. She felt tingly from the waist down for about a month. It made it very difficult to get around and she felt angry that the medications didn’t seem to be working. When she is not having an episode she usually feels very tired, “like a black cloud that comes over me and quickly.”

“Even though I have MS I feel that I am extremely blessed. I have an amazing support system. My family and friends are so wonderful. I have done a lot of research on MS and my episodes could be A LOT worse.  My attacks have only been sensory and I’m thankful for that. MS doesn’t have me…I have MS,” says Sarah Maloy.
Today, new treatments and advances in research are giving new hope to the people affected by Multiple Sclerosis. For more information please go to http://NationalMSSociety.com.

Lower Columbia Multiple Sclerosis Group is a local support group that meets on the 2nd Saturday of every month at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Longview. Check out this event on http://CowlitzToday.com.

There are many ways to get involved and help to spread knowledge and further research. As shown in the picture, my family went to Olympia for the 4 mile walk to help earn funds for research.

We all can do a little something to help fight back.