In 2011, my grandmother passed away, so we flew up to New Jersey.
It was a stressful time leaving, I had six month old twins at the time.
So, on the way back, in the car, I felt carsick.
So my initial symptom was optic neuritis.
I didn't really realize that it was just on one side, it was in one eye, I just had a
kind of general dizzy, things were slightly blurry feeling.
I also, around the time that I developed optic neuritis, on the opposite side of my body,
my toes started tingling.
And within a couple of days, the tingling increased to my knee, and then my thigh.
And that's when I knew that something was up.
I went to see my general practitioner, who was amazing, and she sent me to get an MRI.
What happens next, I was referred to an opthoneurologist, and she saw my MRI results, and she was actually
the one that told me, that my appointment five minutes after her appointment with my
general practioner, she was probably going to tell me that I had multiple sclerosis.
My husband and I struggled with infertility for years and years.
So, we finally have our twins, and they're six months old, and I'm sitting in a doctor's
office with my twins, being told that I have MS.
So immediately, the world just stopped, and I was just looking at these babies, fearful
if I'd be able to take care of them, if I'd be in a wheelchair, if I could give them the
life that I want to give them.
The second I met Dr. Thrower at Shepherd Center, I knew I was where I was supposed to be.
I love the nurses, and the staff, it's kind of like you build a relationship with them.
Nobody wants to go to an infusion room to get an infusion, nobody wants to do these
things or give yourself an injection, but going there every four or six weeks is incredible,
because they're supportive and encouraging, you know, they remind me that my body is working
really hard for me and that I want to be there to take care of my health.
Everyone is going through something, and a lot of times you can't see it, whether it's
depression, whether it's cancer, whether it's a disease.
You wouldn't know I had MS just from meeting me, from being friends, you know, you wouldn't
know unless I told you.
So I started Chatter Bomb Clothing, which has a graphic on the outside and a message
on the inside, so it's on the heart, for the heart, whether it says be a badass, or you
are loved, or stay weird, weird's awesome.
The message is just for you.
I think it's important to use all of the abilities that you have, and share them with people.
You know, this very wise woman, I think her name was Oprah Winfrey, I read in a magazine
once, I remember sitting in the doctor's office, and she said bad things happen for you not
to you, and I thought that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
And I was thinking about it, and I was like oh my God, I would love to believe that I
would appreciate every single day and every moment with my kids and just the miracle of
life, and I don't know if I'd be as appreciative and as present in every moment as I am after
being diagnosed with MS.
The Shepherd Center has done so many great things for people, the fact that they have
so many great donors and so many incredible people that are keeping this hospital going,
I mean, it's so rare.
The doctors and the nurses, and all the staff, really, they're always smiling, always positive,
they're always encouraging, and it's just a great place to be.
Hope is here.