Photo Credit: seanmcgrath
This coming Sunday, April 11, I’ll be attending an event here in Nashville for an organization that meant nothing to me two years ago. Two years back, I had no clue about who they were, nor did I care.
It’s not that I didn’t care in a cold-hearted kind of way. It was simply that I didn’t understand or know anyone who was affected by this organization’s contribution.
Sunday, I’ll be walking and helping raise money for the Mid South Chapter of the MS Society. Multiple Sclerosis affects roughly 250,000-350,000 (estimate) Americans. It’s a chronic, degenerative disease that, at this time, has no cure.
If you’d like to donate, you can go to my personal page here or click the banner.
If you do decide to donate, please do it anonymously. If you don’t want to, no big deal. No worries. I’d just appreciate it if you read the rest of this post and think about a cause or charity you might need to get involved with.
These organizations exist to raise money for research that can eventually lead to cures for such diseases and illnesses.
So, today I’m taking a small break from all the fuss about building muscle, losing fat and looking great naked to talk about something that’s had a very big impact on my life and the way I view the world.
Life Stops Sometimes
In late 2008 my life completely changed forever. My mother’s life changed more so.
I’ll never forget our conversations leading up to the dreaded Dr.’s appointment. Mother had explained to me that she’d been having problems with her coordination. She’d actually fell down a few stairs at her apartment and while it didn’t hurt her too bad, it scared the hell out of her (and me).
She later explained to me that when she’d look down, as if you were looking at an open book in your lap, she got this tingling, almost stinging sensation down her back. She described it as a “shock-like” feeling going down her spine.
My mother is very stubborn. She knew something was up but wanted to do her own research before going to the Dr.
She spent a lot of time on the internet researching her symptoms and pretty much diagnosed herself within a few weeks.
After some time went by, she eventually sat me down and explained she’d gone to the Dr. to talk with someone about her symptoms. They decided to run a CT scan to take a look at her brain and spinal cord. They told her that the scan would let them know whether or not she had lesions on her brain and spinal cord. If she did, there was a fair chance she had multiple sclerosis.
Sure enough, the lesions were there. Oh. My. God…
By this point I was freaking out. I’d no idea it could be this bad. She stated the Dr. told her they must run another test to make a sure-fire MS diagnosis.
They’d have to perform a spinal tap. Another two weeks of nothing but waiting for the results to come back was killing us. At this point there were two possible outcomes. She either has MS or cancer.
The Diagnosis
After the spinal tap came back, the full diagnosis was that she had Relapsing-Remitting MS. This type of MS, in short, is described as having short attacks, flare-ups or exacerbations followed by periods of recovery. During these attacks, one can lose ability to walk, use their hands and many other functions that involve the nervous system and coordination. Sometimes their function restores, sometimes it does not.
I experienced my darkest hour the day we sat in the Dr.’s office waiting on his diagnosis. He pulled out the images and showed us the lesions. Then he explained the results of the spinal tap.
I immediately burst into tears and Mama said I turned ghost-white. The Dr. grabbed my hand and said everything was going to be just fine. He told us of the treatments that many have done very well on.
He then explained how it’s good she was diagnosed as soon as she was so the drugs could help prevent any further relapses or at least lessen their severity.
The comfort he was able to give me in those 5 minutes of grim thoughts about my world ending was beyond incredible. After discussing treatment options, I went home with a new perspective. I had hope.
It Does Get Better
However, time has passed and she’s done really well with the management of her symptoms. She’s been on a drug called Betaseron which is one of the best treatments for relapsing-remitting MS.
Unfortunately, she has to self-inject the medication every other day for the rest of her life but that’s better than a potential relapse that could severely damage her nervous system.
While she still has her mobility, some days are worse than others. My best friend Steve, his wife and I’ve been taking her to the trails on the weekend to ensure she’s getting some moderate activity into her weekly routine.
I’ve made her commit to walking at least 3 times per week for starters. Over time, the goal is to lose a little weight and regain the health and vitality she once had.
I tell this story because it’s important to me. It’s important that I do something for others around me and not expect anything in return. It’s important that I support a cause bigger than I’ll ever be.
What about you? Is it your turn to get involved?
Hey JC, stumbled upon your site through fitnessblackbook.com. I’ve been reading up on a lot of Rusty’s stuff for a few months. Your stuff is a good read and its inspiring to have input from someone physically similar to me(male, 5 1/2ish feet in height, 150-200 lbs, mid 20′s). I especially liked your FFB article, as that seems to describe me eerily well. Keep doing what you do.
As I mentioned to you in the email, my best friend Brandy was recently diagnosed with MS.
She used to compete on the Olympic weightlifting team that I coach, and is a very strong chick. But, over the course of a few months she had a numbness in her right leg that just kept getting worse. Eventually, she could barely use it. She hobbled rather than walked.
This of course, pissed her off mainly because she couldn’t workout as hard!
Once she was diagnosed (also relapsing-remitting), I found that I was much more distraught than she was. She was even making jokes, and saying that now she was gonna have to run for President (Like president Bartlet in the West Wing, who had MS). She has no problem injecting herself daily. And she’s now in a remitting phase, so her legs work again.
I always knew she was a psychologically strong person, but she’s really impressed me as of late. I’d be a mess. She acts like it ain’t nothing! “Hey, it’s better than cancer,” she said.
Since then we’ve found that if she sticks to heavy singles and doubles on the big lifts, she doesn’t get as fatigued. Just an interesting side note for those training with MS (as MS patients tend to suffer from excessive fatigue).
Hope things for your Mother are OK.
Nick
holy cow. I’m glad to hear she is still able to do what she loves. thanks a lot for sharing, Nick.
Big of you to share this with us. I had a friend who battled cancer. Cancer was always one of those things that couldn’t happen to us, not us young 20 year olds. Many times we don’t think about certain issues until they hit home in someway. Now, as I get older, I know how important health is.
Hope a lot of people show up tomorrow.
I rode in the MS150 in 2008. It’s a 150 mile bike ride from Houston, Tx to Austin, Tx. And I’m not a road biker, so it was pretty difficult. But there were over 10,000 other riders, and the feeling of unity was fantastic.
If ever I can do anything, please let me know!
jeeez that’s a long ride. I might have to do this in 2011.
perhaps we could ride together
thanks to both of you. thanks so much.
Hi JC. Thank you for having such a big heart and sharing your mother’s story. She is a very strong woman and I admire her so much. I admire you as well for being such a loving and supportive son. My mother also had MS for 6-7 years.
Val
Hey JC, thanks for sharing yours and your mom’s story. These are the times when we realize that good health is really priceless. We have to appreciate and maintain it while we still have it. Great job on giving your mom support and being by her side! I hope she only gets better from this point.
Anna