In Feb. 2018 my mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, an incurable disease that causes the immune system to eat away at the protective covering of the nerves. This disrupts communication between the brain and the body. MS is a rare disease with less than 200,000 cases per year.
The day my mom told my brother and I, we automatically knew something was wrong when she sat us down on the couch. Our dad looked upset and she looked nervous to talk to us. She started out by telling us she had gone to the doctor because she had been off-balance and had been numb on her right side. She quickly came out and said she had been diagnosed, putting a shocked look on my brother and me’s faces.
I didn’t know what any of this meant so I kept asking questions. When I had found out what it all meant I started crying. I was scared for my mom, I didn’t know what any of this would change in our future.
Not long after my mom had seen doctors and was put on medication to help the lesions on her brain. What the doctor had put her on wasn’t helping much with her problems, she was still noticing numbness and being off balance. I started paying more attention to her symptoms and noticed she seemed extremely tired.
We went to MS walks, donated money, and raised awareness for the disease. My family looked into it and learned everything we could about the one thing impacting my mom’s life. It took me a while to get used to this new change in life. She was taking medicine every day and going to the doctor more often. It just became something I knew I would have to get used to.
It has been three years since the diagnosis and things are a lot better than they used to be. My mom has been taken off of certain medicines and doesn’t seem to be experiencing symptoms like she used to. My family is at more peace since my mom has been relieved of her symptoms.
My mom continues to go to the doctor to make sure everything is staying as it is and not worsening. We still are raising awareness for the disease and doing everything we can to be there for not only my mom but each other.
