Im the mother of a teenage daughter who is tough as nails! That feels better than saying, My 16 year old daughter has MS! Victoria was 14 when she had an Acute attack of what was then diagnosed as Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM). It was March, 2012 and she was a freshman in high school. She had just made the JV softball team. Woo Hoo life was good! She had finished a week of practice with the team. It was Friday and I was watching her practice and thinking how strong she looked. I remember feeling so happy for her. That Sunday she started experiencing weekness in her left side. She expressed feeling unbalanced. Then her left arm couldnt hold the weight of a soda. When she went to bed she complained that she couldnt move her arm. I didnt believe her. I thought that it had just fallen asleep. She then started complaining that she couldnt move her leg. I still didnt believe her. I thought she was trying to pave the way for a day off, Youre fine, your going to school, I said! She was 14, why wouldnt she be able to move her arm or leg. She was an athlete. I hope she has forgiven me for not believing her, because it took me a long time to forgive myself! Thank God her father listen to her and brought her to the ER. Our local hospital did a CT scan and decided to send her to Yale New Haven. Victoria had an MRI while we were waiting for the transport team. When we got to Yale the doctors there told us that she had a mass on her brain. I will never forget that moment. I felt like they were talking about someone elses child, how could they be talking about Victoria? She was a strong, vibrant girl, she was 14. Suddenly life stopped. The doctors wanted to repeated the MRI. They told us that they suspected that it was Inflamation and a second MRI would be needed to prove it. My mind was racing. All I could think of was the C word...Cancer. Please God dont let it be cancer. The MRI showed that the mass had grown, it wasnt cancer but it was Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM). The next 24 hours were horrific for her. She couldnt move her left side. She couldnt walk, sit up, hold her head up, talk correctly or see correctly. She was 14 and she thought she was dying. She was pricked and prodded. She had test after test to rule out heart disease, cancer and even MS. She was helpless and her dad and I felt helpless! When were we going to wake up from this nightmare? She was given high doses of steroids and IVIG which stop the progression of her illness. After two weeks at Yale she was transferred to A Childrens rehabilitation hospital in New York. She spend her days in therapy. Every night she would ask me if she was ever going to walk again. How it killed me. I didnt have the answer but I new with hard work she could get better. Right God, shes going to get better??? She worked hard and after one month she finally move the tip of her finger. We cried with joy and then we called Dad and we cried some more! We then called our entire family, even though it was after 11:00pm, we just couldnt keep this good news to ourself! Victoria was healing! She kept working hard and was eventually able to lift her arm, and move her foot. After six weeks she came home! She walked up the stairs and into the house alone, no wheelchair, no cane! Just Victoria power...She walked! In the spirit of her Latin teacher, Lets get sappy. Her names Latin root... Is victory which means triumph, conquest, the achievement of success over obstacles. Thats our daughter, Victoria the conqueror! Victoria spent the summer months in out-patient therapy. She returned to school in September as a Sophmore. She used an elevator and had rest periods during the day. Everyday after school she went to therapy. She worked and worked and worked and in the Spring she played softball again, not the same as she did before, but she played! What courage she had, how brave she was to get out there in front of her peers and go for it! She ran a little funny, but she was running and even more importantly she was playing softball! Life was good again! Then as the saying goes, life through her a curve ball. In early December of 2013 she had a relapse. Suddenly she couldnt speak correctly. She called me on my cell phone and told me that she sounded funny. You better believe I listened to her when she called and told me that she thought something was wrong! We went straight to Yale and within hours she had an MRI. When the doctor told us that she had new lesions life stopped again. Victoria was scared. Why was this happening again. The answer would come in her new diagnosis....Multiple Sclerosis. This episode was a little bump in the road. A wake up call. Remember what happens when the going gets tough....the TOUGH GET GOING! One night after she came home from the hospital, I was looking around the Internet for anything I could find about MS, when I stumbled across the Walk MS website. When I told Victoria that there was a walk in our town to raise money for the Nation MS Society she asked me if she could walk in it. My eyes filled with tears. I was never more proud of her than I was at that very moment. Here she was newly diagnosed and she wanted to Walk for a cure! Victoria the conqueror has MS but she will not let MS have her! My daughter has moxie. She has courage. She has spirit. She has beauty. She has confidence. She has a big heart. She has a sense of humor. She has a great love of softball. She has sisters and a family that loves her. She has cousins. She has friends. She has cats. She has a chinchilla and she has MS.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 06:20:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015