When I was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2017, I was humbled to my core. I was a recently married, first-year graduate student, and I was getting by, but then numbness started in my right foot. It slowly progressed up to my waist and then down my left leg. I slowly developed a foot drop and began dragging my leg, which meant I needed a cane to get around. I couldn't drive, I struggled to read, I was falling frequently, I had to drop classes, and I had to extend the length of my Master's program. I had to learn to ask for help and rely on my wife, my friends, and my family.
I started on a DMT, and my symptoms began to calm down. I started walking and reading again, and I got back to a "normal" way of life. Then I started running, and at first I couldn't make it around the block without stopping. It was less than a mile. I stayed with it, though, and haven't stopped running since. I have been so fortunate that my body has been able to go the whole way to a 31-mile ultramarathon.
I know how lucky I am every time I have to go to the Clinic and walk through the halls with other patients with MS. Some, like me, appear to be living a "normal" life with minimal disability. Others are not so fortunate. I can still see the face of one guy I passed in the hall at the Clinic one morning a year after my initial relapse. He was my age, walking with a walker, and an older woman was helping him. You could see the frustration in his eyes. That look of frustration I knew all too well a year before, and I was just the fortunate one who bounced back. I know it could have easily been the other way around. It's a constant fear I have come to terms with. I know that one day I could wake up and my legs won't work again, and until that day, I refuse to take that ability for granted.
That's why I am running 153 miles over 6 days next summer with MS Run the US, fundraising $10,000. Six days of suffering are nothing to those who spend a lifetime with this disease, and if I can help raise funds for research, provide financial aid to those who need it, and raise awareness, I feel obligated to do so. I can’t do it alone, though, and I need your help. It’s a big goal, but I know that with your help, I can achieve it!
Thank you to my business sponsors!
Orange Warrior Sponsors
TJM
Lockard Counseling and Consulting LLC
Blacktop Sponsors
Greenleaf Corporation
Saegertown Hardware & Power Equipment
