Your place of power: How online MS support groups can enrich your life

        Support groups are powerful places. They can be safe harbors, where we find friends, shoulders to lean on, or someone who will actually listen. How rare is that when we need those things the most?

        I’m no expert, but after 30 years with MS, I’ve seen my share of support groups. As many as I’ve seen, I still wish I’d joined even more and met even more people who shared my situation – because a good support group is such a lifeline. It’s a fire in the hearth on the longest night of the year, and in good times, is a wind in your sail because you know that somewhere is a group of people who know you’re not lazy, not “crazy,” and are fully deserving of dignity and respect.

        One of the most insidious enemies for me and others with MS is isolation. While we’re battling the five-alarm fires of MS (you know what they are) with everything we’ve got, isolation is doing its quiet work in the background, building up brick by brick. When mobility impairments, fatigue, depression and a host of other symptoms arise, so do barriers and isolation from the rest of the world. The terrible irony is that right when we need support the most, the barriers creating isolation in the first place are also turning the effort of going to group meetings into more a stressor than a safe harbor. That’s where online support groups become such a blessing.

        Continue at the "Momentum Magazine" blog: https://momentummagazineonline.com/blog/find-your-place-of-power-how-online-ms-support-groups-can-enrich-your-life/

Serving with MS webinar, Friday & Mab's 1st 5K!

Happy Veterans Day! 

On Nov. 13, the MS Society's Ask an MS Expert webinar will feature the challenges of serving while dealing with multiple sclerosis. This Friday, Air Force veteran Karla Clay will share her story of living with MS. One of my best and strongest friends went down this same difficult path: I'm watching for him.

Also, this lady ran her first official 5K! (She usually does one on her own every week.) She ran to raise funds for the Wounded Warriors Project.

For years she performed patriotic musical shows for veterans on this day. She got into her special audiences, and they were really touched by her show too. So many of them would thank her afterward and share their stories. It was one of her favorite days of the year. Now she misses those Veterans Days. Today she ran in their honor. Her write-up:

First, a big thank you to all the veterans out there - we owe you so much! Today I did the Carry Forward 5K for the Wounded Warrior Project (and another big thank you to all who donated.) The goal is to raise $600,000 by the end of the year and to date we're at over $586,000.  Of course, the temperature dropped from the 70's yesterday to 46 degrees today, but as you can see, I was appropriately ostentatious in my attire for the event.  I started by giving a flag to my neighbor across the street who is retired Coast Guard and ended by giving my Wounded Warrior Flag to another neighbor who is retired Air Force. My plan was to jog as much as I could, but I must have jolted one of those pesky inner ear crystals loose when I started to jog and got a little vertigo, so I ended up walking. Last Saturday, I walked out my course for the 5K, but when I got to the end my watch said I was only at 2.7 miles - so I kept going. Turns out the GPS from my phone wasn't connecting to the watch and I ended up doing an extra 1/2 mile (I'll be ready for a marathon soon --- NOT!)