The fear of the disease is the fear of the unknown. You could wake up and something else won’t work right. When I ended up using a wheelchair, I didn’t want to admit defeat. But then I realized, I’m not admitting defeat. Why waste your energy doing things that you don’t need to do when you can save it for what matters.
I played in a softball league for 10 years in Walnut Creek. My final year was in 2006. I was playing center field, and I could still move fairly well. But then one game went on past six or seven o’clock, and it was about 95°. MS and heat don’t go well together. So they took me off center and put me behind the plate. I could catch the ball with my glove, but then I couldn’t do anything with it. I could hardly walk by the end of the inning. My wife came up to me and said, “This is the last time I’m coming. I just can’t watch this anymore.” I understood how she felt. I wanted to keep playing as long as I could, but at that point I knew my athletic days were gone.
I was not so much scared as just pissed off that I couldn’t do what I’d been doing for years and years. It was hard to accept, and it became an anger issue. ‘This really sucks’, I thought.
But then I realized, there are other enjoyments in life. I don’t even need to play any sports. Now that my older son is participating in sports I just enjoy watching him.
Diagnosis: Secondary Progressive
Will was a successful manager in a large accounting firm. A few years after being diagnosed he decided to take a job closer to home to make things easier on him and his family. But as his MS progressed, he finally couldn’t work anymore.
One of Will’s main motivations in life is his family. He and his wife have two sons, one of whom is non-verbal autistic.
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