“I’m a physical therapist. My passion through life was always physical fitness. I thought exercise could cure everything. I not only taught it all day to my patients, but I also lived that lifestyle. I was a runner, a biker, and a swimmer. I did triathlons. Then, when I was 26, I started getting numbness and tingling in my feet. A few years prior, I had optic neuritis and I remember the ophthalmologist telling me that sometimes this can be a precursor to MS. So, when the numbness and tingling started, I kind of knew something was wrong. The numbness and tingling became more constant. I started getting weaker. I’ll never forget the day I was diagnosed. I went straight to the Eau Claire Athletic Club to workout, because when you’re a physical therapist that’s what you do. When I was there, I followed a man down the steps who was really struggling with a cane, but he was there. He was moving. I just thought, wow, this may not be the end all. Then, I went into the locker room and a woman was in there, and something dropped out of her bag. I looked at it, and it was a book titled Life After Breast Cancer. I know those two people were put in my path, that day, to show me that life isn’t over. I started losing strength, and had trouble walking over the years. Fortunately, I have a slow progressive form of MS. It’s been 25 years. I’m still able to walk a little, using two canes and a leg brace. I can walk in my own house, hanging onto walls and counters, but anytime I leave the house, I’m in my wheelchair. My family is amazing. My husband will throw me in that wheelchair and we go anywhere and everywhere and it doesn’t even phase him. He has pushed my wheelchair through the Redwood Forest, we have been to Europe several times, we’ve been to Hawaii and Napa Valley. I used to love to run and walk, and now we will go down to Phoenix Park and he will push me on the trails. Is it the same? No, of course not. Do I miss going out for a long run? Of course. But, it is what it is. There are so many more people struggling with much bigger issues than me. I try not to feel sorry for myself too much. I’m very lucky. I have a strong faith in God, I have an amazing support system of friends and family, and without them I wouldn’t know where I would be.”