My MS Story

Hello all, my name is Dominic Toupin, I am 26 and an MS Warrior!

All of my life I’ve been a very active person. I played Football and Baseball in high school, I trained and competed in the 2018 CrossFit Open, and was a Manager of a restaurant all while I studied at Kutztown University in PA.

My symptoms all started out very subtle, and became worse as time went on. Starting with tingling in my left leg in 2018, to being bed ridden for 2+ weeks in 2021 because of a double ear infection that turned into an upper respiratory infection and severe vertigo.

During the Summer of 2022, I was playing in a competitive Men’s Wooden Bat Baseball League on the weekends. In High School, I played Left Field, and wanted to get back into the sport for fun. It was a very hot day to have a scrimmage, and I was feeling off. My vision seemed to be playing tricks on me as I was playing catch to warm up. I was seeing double of everything. After rubbing my eyes, it went away, and I went out onto the field to play the game. With the 3rd guy up to bat, he hit a high fly ball towards me. As I looked up, I saw 3 balls in the air and the ball ended up 20ft behind me. After the game, I took some time to think about all the things that have happened to me over the years, found a correlation and realized that something was wrong and I knew I had to do seek medical help about it…

I saw an eye doctor first, and was referred to get MRIs of my brain and spine. After all the tests, I did what any scared young kid would do…I started googling things that could be wrong with me. Cancer, ALS, MS, Lyme, the listed went on and on. On July 13th, 2022 my life changed forever as I got a call from my doctor saying that I have “lesions” on my brain, every section of my brain stem, and scattered down my C and T sections of my spinal cord. I was diagnosed with MS.

Since that day? My life has never been the same, but has changed for the better in many ways! I found a neurologist that realized how much I cared about my health. After sitting down with her, a nutritionist, and actively seeing a therapist…I’ve been gluten and dairy free, and I do not eat red meat. I recently got married back in September to my best friend, and have a beautiful Pembroke welsh corgi pup. Without the support of my friends and family, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am a Team Captain for a Walk MS Team called DominateMS. I currently have an Instagram page where I’m starting a podcast, and cannot wait to begin a new journey as an Ambassador for MS4MS!

Thank you to Sam Greenberg and the whole MS4MS family for giving me this opportunity to be the voice for others living with this disease! Let’s define this disease and not let it define us.