December 18, 2020 Columns by Jamie Hughes Reclaiming Our Power When We Feel Powerless I donāt know about you all, but when I first learned I had multiple sclerosis, I felt utterly powerless. Weak. Beaten down. Cornered. Cowed. Yes, I experienced all of these negative feelings (and a hundred more besides) in the first year or two after my diagnosis. But after time, I…
August 20, 2020 Columns by Jennifer (Jenn) Powell Sailing Beyond Fear With SPMS I grew up sailing the San Francisco Bay. My summers were spent in sailing school. My fatherās daughter, I loved being on the water. There was no place more peaceful or exhilarating. That serenity turned to turbulence one cold and foggy day. While speeding downwind, our boat broached. The…
March 1, 2019 Columns by John Connor Hair We Go Again I can’t quite remember when I got hooked on the writings of Jack London, but I don’t think I’ve ever quite shaken off his Nietzschean-inspired “Superman” ethos. It comes in handy for surviving in the wilds of the winter in the Yukon and forcing yourself to build a…
October 26, 2018 Columns by John Connor Every Day Is Like a Box of Chocolates Each morning, I’m confronted by an adaptation of the conundrum faced by Forest Gump’s mother: “Life [is] like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re gonna get.” If I can’t get myself out of bed, it’s going to be a bad one. I may be in…
August 16, 2018 Columns by Laura Kolaczkowski Getting Out, Despite the Crowds Last week, my husband and I attended an outdoor concert in a small venue that we used to regularly attend just a few years ago, before my MS affected my mobility. Our last concert there was two years ago, and although IĀ was skeptical about going, the weather was perfect,Ā and…
June 15, 2018 Columns by John Connor Anyone for Golf? A family wedding in the gardens of a grand country house some 30 minutes from Oxford sounds idyllic. And indeed it was. Not, though, for anyone in a wheelchair. A deep pebble driveway at the front was impassable.Ā It took very strong men to drag me backwardĀ a few yards. Going…
June 5, 2018 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc #CMSC2018 ā Advances Made in Care of Children with MS, but Challenges Remain, Expert Says While the treatment and care of children and teenagers with multiple sclerosis (MS) has seen many developments in recent years, there are still many challenges to overcome, according to a presentation given by Brenda Banwell, MD. Banwell, who is the chief of child neurology at the Childrenās Hospital…
May 25, 2018 Columns by John Connor Running (Wheeling) on Empty Arguments over nothing and everything are, in my experience, induced by extreme stress. When my wife and I were at full bore working together, this often happened. Not at work ā there wasn’t time ā and we were professional. Domestically, what little downtime we had would often be spent…
September 15, 2017 Columns by Jamie Hughes This Too Shall Pass I posted this meme on social media last weekĀ with the caption āCurrent Life Status,ā hoping a laugh might help matters. Iām sorry to say things didn’tĀ improve afterward. Iām not a Debbie Downer or a Sad Sack by nature, and I donāt often write about my struggles here…
September 30, 2016 Columns by Jamie Hughes Happy is the Woman And do you feel scared? I do, but I won’t stop and falter. And if we threw it all away, things can only get better ā Howard Jones, āThings Can Only Get Betterā Things Iām good at include (but are not limited…