I recently became a multiple sclerosis wife to my husband of 46 years. Although hubby had two prior bouts of optic neuritis about 10-12 years apart, and his father had the debilitating disease and died at a young age over 44 years ago, it was not something we worried about.
When the first episode occurred, multiple sclerosis was never considered an issue. Our children were young and no thought came to our or our doctor’s mind and it went away with no repercussions. About ten to twelve years later it happened again. His eyesight to his own explanation was like someone pulled a window shade halfway down his vision in one eye. If he looked at you directly, he would only see half of your face. This time MS was discussed and we were sent to a neurologist. The neurologist gave us hopeful info that because of his age at the time, which was 58 years old, the chances of the disease becoming an issue would not be likely.
Recently, I have noticed that he was walking funny and just did not seem right, so we went to the doctor and was sent to another neurologist. So now we face a future of uncertainty, but hopefulness. So I am now reading everything I can get my hands on and going to seminars to learn everything I can learn.
As I was reading the fall 2011 magazine of the MS society entitled “Momentum,” I could not help seeing Phil Keoghan on the cover on his bike. I love “The Amazing Race” and enjoyed seeing Phil on various talk shows. Now I like him even more because he is a champion bike racer and is spearheading “NOW and Novartis for MS,” which is a professional women’s cycling team dedicated to raising MS awareness. NOW stands for his mantra and also his title of a book he wrote in 2004, “No Opportunity Wasted: Creating a List for Life.” As the movie “The Bucket List” will attest, we should have a list of goals for ourselves; no matter what our abilities or disabilities may be.
So thanks to Phil, and his near death experience during an underwater TV shoot when he was 19, he is giving back and helping others at the same time. I thank you for bringing awareness to this disease and a future that is not just uncertain, but productive for sufferers of multiple sclerosis.