In Honor of MS Week - The struggles of this disease & how you can help me make a difference

A lot of you who know me personally, already know this fact about me: I am a complete "Mama's girl". My mom is my angel and the one person in this world who I know will be there for me through the best and worst of my life, like she already has been. I do not know what I would do without her and the truth is, I am stubborn and refuse to think about it! 
When I was 15 years old, my mom was diagnosed with MS, and it was horrible. MS stands for Multiple Sclerosis, which is a central nervous system disease. It is thought to be caused by a dysfunctional immune system. There is no known cure... yet. Certain illnesses have been known to "bring out" MS, when before, you did not know you had it. This happened to my mom. She had the flu, and once she semi-recovered, that is when her MS and all of the symptoms came out and changed her life completely. The hardest part of watching her first flare with MS was seeing her in a wheel chair. My mom had a pool built at our house because she loved to lay out in the sun and be in the water. I was so used to watching her get up in the morning and spend literally all day at by the pool. Her tan absolutely brought out the Cherokee Indian in her! After her first flare with MS, this never happened again.

A lot of people are not very familiar with this disease nor do they know the effects it has on a persons life. MS changes everything. Going for a run in the park, going to the bathroom, working a regular full-time job, and even simply trying to sleep at night -- all of that changed when my mother was diagnosed with MS. There are different types of MS and some, thank God, are not as aggressive as what my mother has.

For years, I have watched my mom struggle when I felt that it was completely unfair for a beautiful woman such as her, to have to live with this cruel disease. However, as I have gotten older, I have learned you cannot live like that. In this situation no one can change what has happened to you or someone you love, but when you can do is learn and make the best of what you are given.
My mom has never complained once. She has gotten up everyday and gave my brother and I everything she had . Part of the reason for my weight loss journey is to try and live my life as long, as beautiful, and as healthy as I can. One of the things I have learned through research is, managing our diet is the most important thing to prevent Multiple Sclerosis as well as many other diseases. Take control as much as you can, while you still can.
Through out my mother's battle with MS over the past 6 years, she is finally at a better place. She is now able to work full time, get her infusions regularly to help with her MS (so those damn lesions will not travel), and even got married this past June. Also, this past fall one of her life-long dreams finally came true. She has always wanted her own and to ride horses. Living with MS, you would think that this would be completely impossible, but guess what, it's not. She scared the life out of me when she called so excited to tell me about what she had done. Honestly, words cannot describe how terrified I was when she called to tell me she had been riding her new horse. If I would have been there I would died of a heart attack, lol. It made her so happy and I was so proud of her.

I am writing today to tell you about this disease and how it has effected my life - even NOT having it, so can you imagine someone living with it? But you can help. To read more about my mother's struggle as well as AMAZING benefits a healthy lifestyle has please check out this blog entry. 

I would like to ask my friends and readers to help fight this disease and find a cure. There are so many ways you can get involved. You can join an MS walk, donate, volunteer, or simply help me spread the word. My mom has battled this disease for 6 long antagonizing years and her battle is not over. Somehow she still comes out on top. She was a single mom, raised my brother and I, was in and out work due to back and fourth bouts in the hospital, had to have treatment upon treatment done because nothing worked for her or made her too sick, and ALL THE WHILE obtained a double Master's Degree in Nursing and Health Administration... with a 3.6 GPA. Mama, you are amazing.

If you are able, I would like to you to join me in this MS walk to help find a cure. The walk is in Kannapolis, NC on Saturday, May 14th, 2011. For more information click here. I will be volunteering and I hope others can join me. More details to come. The drive from Charlotte, NC is only about 20-30 minutes, from Eden/Reidsville, NC about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and from Greensboro NC about an hour.