My journey with MS started on the first day of the Sydney Olympics. I had been vaguely unwell, very tired and quite shaky for some time but due to previous health issues I didn’t really think much of it, except to say that “I would give anything to have some time off and be able to watch the Olympics”, shouldn’t have been so literal, because, I really got my wish! That morning I went to get out of bed and fell on the floor. I had no feeling in the left side of my body, slurred speech and blurred vision. Off to hospital we went and over the next few days received a diagnosis of stroke. Luckily for me my doctor was on the ball and wasn’t fully convinced as not all my symptoms fit that diagnosis. I was transferred to another hospital and underwent more testing and the diagnosis of MS was given. After this I spent a lovely month in hospital and a few months in rehabilitation learning speech, handwriting, walking and a few other skills I’d temporarily lost. I got back to being OK but was left with a pretty obvious gait problem which is quite common to people with MS. It’s kind of like your feet are on wrong or your legs are walking at different speeds, not quite sure how to describe it but it leads to quite a few nasty falls! My specialists told me that that was the best I could expect and that permanent damage had occurred.
Fortunately and surprisingly I already had two friends with MS. One was doing quite well, one not so good. Obviously I went to see the good one and started on a program with a naturopath. It was hard at first. There were so many things he wanted me to change, but I thought I should give it every chance and amazingly I improved in little ways. At the same time, I insisted on walking every day. I’ve always been a big believer in the importance of walking and exercise so even though I could only walk a matter of metres from my house to the corner and do a few short yoga poses, I persevered. I had always been active in sport, playing soccer, squash, touch footie and netball, so I really missed this and walking was a way for me to feel like I was doing something positive.
Over the next five years or so I improved at times but also suffered what they call “exacerbations” from time to time, so a bit of a see-saw pattern happened. We also discovered that heat can be quite dangerous in my case, as overheating causes muscles to get confused and often results in mishaps. It was a really steep learning curve.
In late 2005, as a result of a mishap caused by my MS, I badly injured my left leg. Over twelve months later I was still having great difficulty with mobility and specialists told me that there was nothing that could be done as the muscles were wasting away. The popular opinion was that I would need mobility aids within five years. This was a really big moment for me. I became really determined that they were going to be wrong. No matter what I was going to try everything I could and I wasn’t going down without a fight. My mother would tell you without batting an eyelid that I am a very stubborn person. These days I think that’s quite a compliment.
I increased my walking, did more hydrotherapy, more physiotherapy, more everything. My physiotherapist was brilliant. She got me hooked on Wii. That was my turning point. Finally something, that gave feedback on how I was standing and walking. It forced me to correct my stance and start using my left leg properly again. I had always thought I was, but the numbers don’t lie. I was placing over 80% of my weight on my right side and consequently my left leg was getting off easy and I was injuring my right leg. As I got stronger I even started relearning how to ride a bike (not recommended for people with balance problems – like say – a person with MS) and tried to do a little bit of running, but I couldn’t get past about 200metres of running and couldn’t ride my bike more than about 1km. In September 2009, a friend asked me to go to the Come and Try in the Park. She pulled out after one week but I figured I had made the commitment so I attended the whole course. Colleen was one of the guest presenters. After I did her course one morning I went and talked to her and asked if I could try running. She was so positive towards me; she didn’t try to put me off as others had done in the past. She told me that she was running a new course the following march and that I was welcome to come along and we would just see how we went. That was it.
The course was great. I couldn’t believe it! Despite some setbacks along the way I was finally able to run, and I love it. I am now coming up on twelve months since starting and I really do consider myself to be a “real runner”. The support that the other girls and trainers give is just amazing. When I first started I said I just wanted to be able to run 3km. I also had a secret goal of riding 5km. I felt like I had won the lottery the day I ran my first 3km. Lois ran with me that day and encouraged me every step of the way. I’m sure she would have had no idea at the time just how much that meant to me.
Six months ago I decided to set the bar a bit higher. I decided that I would like to ride in this year’s MS Brissie to Bay Fundraising Event. I am going to do that at the end of June. I have to ride 10km which I haven’t done yet – but I will!! A couple of weeks ago I talked to Colleen about trying to complete a 10km run this year and again I got nothing but positive feedback. The Saturday after that I went in for my first morning run and completed a 7km course (with tremendous encouragement from Amanda), so I know that I can and will do it. If I ever doubt myself there are always so many inspiring women around me who are running – some are young, some are older, some have health problems – but all make a commitment and overcome their various obstacles and that is really awesome.
I should also mention that I am fortunate to have been married to a wonderful man for the past 24 years and despite his initial horror when I decide that I’m going to attempt something new, he supports me, encourages me and even picks me up when I fall. Likewise I have two adult sons who I think are quite proud of their Mum who never gives up. Without that kind of support I probably wouldn’t have come this far.
I have learned a lot over the past ten years. I have learned to be quite tenacious; to not expect big things all the time but just to keep chipping away at things to get to where I want to be. I’ve learnt to listen to my body and rest when it needs it; to find positive things in negative situations; to not fall apart when things go wrong but just to accept a bad day for what it is and hope that when the next day dawns that it will be better than the last, and if it isn’t, to just be patient, things will improve sometime ; to appreciate the simple pleasures in life like walking and running (I get really cranky when people make excuses for why they can’t exercise). I’ve become determined to be as active and involved in life as I am able and to appreciate the joy of friends and family. What does the future hold? Don’t know, don’t really worry about it. It’ll happen either way so it’s best just to enjoy the life that you have now. As my son says “LIFE. Don’t take it too seriously, nobody gets out alive!
