My MS Story

I was diagnosed with MS, July 4th , 2017.

I’m an avid runner, cyclist, swimmer, gym rat, and I love being outdoors. I’ll never forget the months leading up to that July. I was experiencing numbness and tingling in my upper thighs. At one point, I couldn’t feel my legs when I touched them. I still ran, I thought that I had pinched a nerve while working out at the gym. Eventually, I thought, it would just work itself out.

Over weeks, the numbness spread all the way down my body; mainly on the left side of my body. Now when I ran, I got an extreme tightness and itchy feeling in my rib cage; which later I found out is the infamous MS hug. Each day it grew worse, especially when I ran. I could no longer feel my feet and my hands started to feel the same.

My running girls told me that I definitely needed to go get it checked out. That it was not a pinched nerve. After that conversation with them, I went home and took a shower. I no longer could feel the water hitting my back. After getting out of the shower, I told my son and he said, “mom that’s it, it’s not a pinched nerve, we are going to the hospital.” On July 4th I was admitted, I had a 3 hour MRI (A total of 8 lesions), spinal tap (by the way had two blood patches), steroids, etc. I was in the hospital for a week, the diagnosis was MS.

My kids were present when I was told and all I could think was “I’m going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. No more running, going on trails, going to the gym, doing all the things I love to do.” After all, that’s all I had ever heard about MS. My friends came to see me every day and told me about the MS 150 bike ride. The ride that raises money for MS. It was being held In October. My best friend said to me, “we are gonna do it.” I said, “hell yeah!” That was the defining moment for me. I refused to let MS take away the things that I loved! I was Diagnosed in July and in Oct completed the MS 150: Cycle to the Shore. I cycled 87 miles from Jacksonville to Daytona and the next day cycled 87 miles back.

Three months after my diagnosis, I was cycling. And cycling far!! That is where I found my love for cycling and it has been a major part of my life ever since! I also fell in love with swimming at that time too, it didn’t affect my MS as much as cycling and running. The coolness of the water helped me. Swimming also became another sport that I loved and now I’m a triathlete. I was not going down! I was going to fight it with all I had! It was not going to define my life. But you know, sometimes life keeps trying to throw curve balls at ya, always trying to teach you something.

On Aug 26, 2020 I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. I had a bilateral mastectomy on September 15th (9 lymph nodes taken out, seven on my left and two on my right) and started chemo In October. I can’t begin to go into how that affected me! The day I found out, my kids were downstairs at the doctors office waiting for me (at the time covid would not let family up to the office). I’ll never forget thinking, “how the heck do I tell my kids I have breast cancer; only three years after my diagnosis of MS?” The hardships that MS brought to them, to my family, to my closest friends. How do I tell them?

As I got off the elevators, I thought “be strong, be tough for them.” As soon as I saw them, I teared up and they knew. My middle daughter, Ally, stood there and said to me “mom, we fight this just as we fight MS.” My other two kids, Jess and Tony, said “that’s right mom.” My response was; “You’re dang gum right!”

It was a difficult battle, I had to come off my MS medications because of chemo. I never knew all that chemo involved; chemo treatments that lasted 8-9 hours, labs, oncology visits, sores in my mouth from chemo, on top of losing every piece of hair on your body, the restless days, not to mention nights, the patch that they put on my arm after each chemo treatment was the most painful part. It affected my bone marrow and caused the most painful pain in my back. I was exhausted beyond anything I’ve ever imagined, my MS makes me feel that way and that on top of cancer. I had skin irritations that are still on my arm, constipation, medications and now I have a port. My veins are so destroyed by chemo, blood draws and infusions.

But you know, through it all, I’ve discovered there is ALWAYS someone out there that has it much worse. I never asked, “why me?” It has made me see that in the most unfortunate situations, how fortunate I’ve been. I have the best support team; my oncologist, neurologist, surgeon, doctors, nurses and mostly; my kids, my family, my friends and my best friend, Melissa. She has stood by me, encouraged me, has held me up at times when my feet were so numb I couldn’t walk. She cycled, swam and ran with me, trained with me for all the events we’ve been a part of and has done everything to help me raise money for MS and Cancer. She is my rock!

My daughter, Ally, became a nurse because of my diagnosis of MS and Cancer. While it is a struggle at times, I find that MS and Cancer has helped me see a purpose. I will fight MS and Cancer every step of the way. Neither will define my life. They are a part of my life but I’ll never let them take away from it. I guess that’s my advice; never, ever give up. Don’t stop, keep doing all of the things you love! Even when the tingling is painful, the MS hug has its grip, the chemo has drained you and the infusions have tired you out. Keep going! Live life, because time passes and you might as well pass the time doing all that you love no matter what!