My name is Tara, and I fight Multiple Sclerosis. I began having symptoms right after my son was born when I was 20. I have good days and bad, and my illness inhibits my ability to do the things I used to love. I was an athlete my whole life before this illness came to be. I played softball, did gymnastics, and was a cheerleader. I also played other sports and rode my bike miles upon miles. Then, after the birth of my son, that all changed.
Since my diagnosis, I’ve had a little girl to join my son. I endured a difficult marriage and still deal with a difficult divorce situation and went into a spiral of depression and points where I begged God to let me die. But He didn’t, so I am here today, and I fight for what I want from life.
Currently, I am an honor student in college and am enhancing my education to get off disability and become a functioning member of society again. I have chosen the field of Health Administration so that I can help those with medical problems get the help they need, so that they too may succeed in life and push through what life has handed down to them.
But I do not fight alone. My identical twin sister also has MS. We fight together. She is a former pageant winner who uses her platform to inform those that are not aware of the disease. I am 38 now, and the past 18 years, though they have been rough, have made me the person I am today!
Tara
Rhode Island
Submitted 03/12/2016
This story is intended to convey a personal experience and, because every person’s experience is unique, should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional healthcare advice.
To Tara,
… Congrats to you for being such a wonderful person, a true positive fighter that keeps pushing her way through and through no matter what life serves you!
You are certainly A WINNER, A FIGHTER AND A GREAT POSITIVE PERSON!!
With love from Quèbec, Canada
Brigitte Estelle
Tara you are an inspiration. I’m also 38th and have two boys have had ms for 16 years . I have been nurse for 10 years now. My brother was just diagnosis with ms. Look me up on Facebook Janell Lubash Lentz.