You are a survivor

Unlike many people, we’ve endured the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. It’s a story some of you know very well. For me it was a quick process due to my MRI results and my prevalent loss of multiple bodily functions. But I know for others it was a long and arduous development with one appointment after another, yet nothing being found definitively sometimes for years.

Oh, the heartache. Oh, the worries. Oh, the concern of what is actually happening and when will it end. When the diagnosis takes place there is a moment of relief knowing that you aren’t going crazy. That there’s an answer to all your troubles.

Through it all, I have to say… you are a survivor. It took me a little bit of time to figure that out for myself. I was caught in such an out-of-control whirlwind that I couldn’t see anything around me that made sense anymore. But then I saw it. Hidden behind the appointments and around the newly discovered symptoms, there it was plain as day. I am a survivor. I’m not healed and as of today am not healed. But I have survived and each day I am surviving.

But why? That was the question I kept asking myself. Why have I survived? Why is this my life now?

I don’t know why I have lived through it. I don’t know how I have lived through it. But what I do know is that I have emerged stronger and with a clearer purpose. Whether you believe it’s God’s gift or just sheer luck… you have been given a second chance in life and I encourage you not to squander it or dwell on why you were chosen.

We make choices every day. Some are clear to make and some not so clear. But I believe we have been chosen to rebuild this MS community we find ourselves a part of as we rebuild ourselves. Some of us will rise to the challenge, other’s won’t. But we will all ultimately survive because we already have.

Let’s be honest. You’re a survivor.

I like how Lori Goodwin said it… “Even in times of trauma, we try to maintain a sense of normality until we no longer can. That, my friends, is called surviving. Not healing. We never become whole again … we are survivors. If you are here today… you are a survivor. But those of us who have made it thru hell and are still standing? We bare a different name: warriors.”

So fight on… my MS Warriors. Fight on!