Abstract

This site visit would determine whether the funding for the center where I worked would be renewed. It was critical that we do well—for the center and for my job as education director. But as the panelists asked their questions, all I could think was, “I have multiple sclerosis.” I had been diagnosed a couple weeks prior and was in a state of shock. For months I had noticed my body behaving strangely, for example when my ankle stopped working after I walked a few kilometers. I had known what the symptoms might mean—my mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the ’90s. But I had ignored them. I was not prepared to deal with my own battle.