2 Questions and     We spoke with Pamela Secrist, leader of The Valley MS Support Group, which has been affiliated with MS Focus for more than ten years. Pamela was diagnosed in 1991. What did an MS diagnosis mean for you? The diagnosis made me think about my life differently: why do things that no longer added value to my life? My faith has always been strong and that helped me immensely. I was hospitalized in 2001 and met with a chaplain to share my experience with MS and hospital care. I realized I had a need to share my story with others to help them and their families. What would you say was your biggest obstacle and how did you overcome it? My biggest obstacle was losing my job. I was a nurse and initially wanted to return to work, but I met with a representative from Medicare who encouraged me to think about it. The stress and daily challenges were causing my relapses. After much contemplation, I decided to stay away from my high stress job. That was the best decision I could have made for myself. Why did you start the support group? I didn’t start the process alone, but with seven or eight other people at a local church. Two ladies, Ann and Lori, had put an ad in the newspaper asking if anyone wanted to start a support group. We all needed a place for everyone who had similar issues and questions. Everyone helped to write our mission statement. We felt like we should support those with MS as well as their caregivers and families, too. We found that MS Focus was easiest to work with so we got the information from them and started the process they outlined. Through the years we have had several leaders. I volunteered to take over if everyone would help me, and thankfully they have! How many members does the group have? We currently have about 30 members. About half have MS and the other half are supporters. We have anywhere from 15 to 28 at each meeting. Does each meeting follow a planned agenda, or is each one different? Each meeting is different. Sometimes we have speakers; sometimes we follow the suggestions sent to us from MS Focus. We always check in with each member and follow-up with any concerns or questions. When someone is new to our group, we do introductions with names and when we were diagnosed, and then we all share our stories. Pamela Secrist