Today, 27th May, is World MS Day 2015. Around the globe people are taking part in awareness events, attending educational programs, talking about the topic of access and hash tagging social media with #strongerthanMS.
All of us are, indeed, stronger than multiple sclerosis. It would be disingenuous of me to simply say that I’m always stronger than this disease. I’d be stretching the truth if I said that I live all my days not letting MS get to me. And it would be an outright lie to take full (or even majority) credit for being #strongerthanMS.
I could not be #stongerthanMS without access to component, qualified and passionate multiple sclerosis professionals. I knew more MS specializing neurologists in my former home of Seattle by first name than Ireland has general neurologists practicing. Without qualified MS nurses and doctors to assist us in finding ways to better live our lives MS can be stronger than us. This must change.
Without access to the drugs that we and our medical team decide best for us, it is difficult to be #strongerthanMS. MS drugs are expensive to develop and manufacture; there is no doubting that. The prices that are charged for MS drugs around the world, however, vary and push people and governments to choose between prescription medication and other necessities of life. This must stop.
Without a little help, some of our MS brothers and sisters find it impossible to be #strongerthanMS. With governments stripping away benefits for the disabled with hollow promises to reinstate, employers discriminating against us in the workplace and the cost of accessible housing on the rise, many of us do not feel strong at all. This must be reversed.
If we are #strongerthanMS it is not without the dedication, support and love of people around the world who may not even know us. Researchers, healthcare professionals, patient advocacy groups, friends, family; they all play a role in lifting us above the difficulties of living with multiple sclerosis. They must be thanked.
We are nearly 2.5million people living with an incurable, progressive, sometimes debilitating neurological condition called multiple sclerosis. We are fortunate to count a support network of many times that number for without them, we would be left to fight with one hand (or leg, or eye…) tied behind our back. We are not alone.
My name is Trevis Gleason and I live with multiple sclerosis. I am #strongerthanMS but not alone. I am #stongerthanMS because of people around the world and in my own home who have helped me over the years, who fight my battles alongside me and who sometimes simply help me place one foot in front of the other. Some day’s that is success.
We are the MS & Me Blog community, we are MS Ireland and together we are #strongerthanMS… but not alone.
Wishing you and your family the best of health.
Cheers
Trevis
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