My Story

When I was in high school I was mostly always sad, everything would get on my nerves. I would always get these headaches that sometimes lasted for days. My junior year I was just mad that I would get the headaches and I would space out in class so I went to the doctor. I had like three MRI's and they found nothing! They said I got headaches because of my vision so I had to get glasses.

I was happy where I was in life in college. I had two jobs and was taking four classes a term. I took classes that I liked I thought I would be able to pay attention more. Fall term was great, but the bad headaches came back, but I was doing well and I was happy, actually happy! But in the winter term, I started to feel depressed, I started spacing out in the classes, and when I was talking to my friends; I would say something then forget what I was talking about. I would fall out of my chair. My friends tell me now that I would fall asleep in one of my classes but I don’t remember that. They thought it was just because I was depressed. I was always tired! I would think because I'm not getting enough sleep. I started feeling my arm tingly. I just thought I slept on it so it just felt asleep. Then my leg would also feel tingly, I would fall down, I thought because I didn't watch where I was going. I remember one weekend when my mom went to pick me up I was complaining that one of my cheeks felt numb and I had no excuse for that. A friend said I might have mono. I was like mono? What is mono and how could I get it? But I went to to the doctor and they took my blood and they said I didn't have mono. I was happy, but why was I feeling like this?

The last weekend I went home I fell while taking a shower. I felt dizzy and confused. I lost control of my bladder so I made an appointment with a doctor. At the doctor's appointment I couldn’t sit straight, I kept leaning to the side. I felt so weak. The doctor told my parents to take me to the hospital to get a MRI. I thought I just had to get a MRI, then I would get to go back to my dorm. After I got the MRI the doctors told me and my parents that I had to stay overnight. I was in the hospital for about three months. I later found out that the doctors first thought I had a brain tumor. I had a lot of tests done, cat-scan, blood drawn, brain and spine biopsy. They gave me all these different medicines but nothing worked.

I was sent to OHSU for experimental treatment. A neurologist diagnosed me with a "rare" type of MS since everything happened so fast. The first three-ish weeks I was in the hospital I couldn’t walk or talk in complete sentences and I couldn’t remember my family or friends. Someone would come in and my mom would ask me do you know who that is? Usually the answer was no, then they would say who they were. I didn't even recognize my best friend!! I wasn’t able to see out of my left eye, I thought I was going blind.

In May I started responding to the medicine and started recognizing people. In June I got to go home. I had to learn how to walk, talk, write, and recognize who people were. The doctors first told me that I would never be able to walk again. I proved them wrong! After a lot of physical therapy, I can now walk without a walker and only use my wheelchair when I do the MS walks.

It was in ’05 that I was diagnosed and I was 18 years old. I sometimes feel like why am I still alive?! Just get depressed sometimes. I was on Rebif since '05, which I gave myself shots three times a week but in October 2013 I changed to Tecfidera, I like taking two more pills a day rather than shots!

MS needs a cure!! No more having to hear “You have MS,” I want to hear “You HAD MS.”