23 msfocusmagazine.org At the time, I was majoring in social work at Florida Gulf Coast University, two hours away from my parents. I started noticing leg and lower back spasms. That’s when I began acknowledging the disease. I also started using a scooter for long distances. I’ve had increasingly worse spasms ever since. I transferred to college closer to home. I continued studying social work at Florida Atlantic University, which is closer to family and doctors. By that time I was using a scooter full-time. I started having trouble with my handwriting. Before I could graduate I couldn't write anymore. My fingers couldn’t hold a pen. I had to drop out of college during my senior year. I felt hopeless. I felt like MS was defeating me. Then my mom suggested that I contact and possibly volunteer with MS Focus: the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. That’s when I realized, as someone with MS, I could best relate to others with MS. I did an online search and found the MS FocusWe Care;We Call Program.The program has someone with MS call others with MS and simply check in with them and hear them out about whatever is on their minds. I started as a volunteer for the program. I fell in love with the people and the organization. After a time, I was offered a position on the staff.TodayI’m a support services coordinator, using the skills I learned while studying social work to help others with MS. I still do We Care;We Call check-ins, but also some general support services. I talk to newly diagnosed as well as others who’ve had the disease for decades. I feel blessed that I can connect in a real way because I really do understand what people with MS are going through. I feel that I make a positive contribution every day that I can work there. Today I have a very aggressive and debilitating case of MS and in the last 12 years it has progressively taken away my ability to do many of the things that I love, like playing soccer, running, riding mybicycle, driving, playing the drums, being independent, walking, and writing and drawing with my hands. Staying positive is a challenge when I’ve had to say goodbye to so many of the things that most people get to take for granted. I learned that it is really important to have a supportive group of family and friends. I have a group of buddies, including my brother, who come over and play games or cards with me most nights. I also have wonderful parents who, despite their bad backs, still muscle me out of precarious situations when my spasticity gets the best of me. I live with my parents. They remodeled their bathroom with a roll-in shower instead of a bathtub for me. They help me get dressed, put on shoes, and go to the bathroom. My brother also volunteers his time to help me as an attendant while at work. If it weren’t for my family, I wouldn’t be here. Today, I know that life is not over; life is yet to begin. Some days it feels like MS is winning, but I hang in there. I learned the only thing you have control over is your attitude. Humor helps me with my attitude. One of my favorite movies is Monty Python’s irreverent Life of Brian. The characters of the movie are in a dire situation. Even though they can’t change their circumstance they all sing an equally irreverent song, which became my motto, “Always look on the bright side of life.”