b'Life with MSDDoonnttUUnnddeerreessttiimmaatteet heePPeerrssoonnwwiitthhMMSSthBe empathetic without being pushyBy Kiana Parker Hello. My name is Kiana Parker and I live couldnt empathize or understand how dicultin New York City. I am 18 years old and was it can be having this condition and being indiagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 11. school at the same time. Lookingbackoverthepastseven years,I Besides the physical symptoms and dierenthave been through a lot but Ive learned a lot, emotions, sometimes you lose focus and cantespecially about myself. The rst symptom I concentrate. You realize you cant do somehad was double vision. I remember going to things at the same pace as your peers: gymthe ophthalmologist and he told my mother I activities, completing all school assignmentsshould go right to the hospital emergency on time, and even walking. room for a MRI. Someone from the doctorsoceaccompaniedustotheemergency Most MS symptoms are invisible, so Imroom and I was admitted.sure some people either forget I have MS orI spent almost a week in the hospital, having dont believe I have an illness, or worsethatbrain MRIs, a spinal tap, a bunch of other tests, its being used as an excuse. For me its evenand seeing a lot of doctors. Honestly, I didnt harderbecauseofthefactthatIgetgoodknow how serious my condition was at that grades; they think MS doesnt have a real eecttime. I just remember thinking, Hooray, this on me. But it does: its symptoms are invisiblemeans I wont have to go to school. (Not to to others but its always there for me, somemention, most adults I knew didnt seem to days much worse than others.know how to explain this to a child. Or they just Living with MS can be isolating. I didntdidnt want to.) It was only after I was diagnosed know anyone from my school who had MS.with MS and I needed to get injections that I When I was younger, there was no one mybegan to realize the seriousness of my condition. age I could really talk to. When I would attendHaving MS, I have gone through so many some MS events, I would be the only youngdierentemotions:depression,bitterness, personthere.Iadmit,itwouldannoymefear, anxieties, and feeling alone sometimes. sometimes when people confused MS withAnd then there are the physical symptoms. another illness or compared and contrastedMysymptomsconsistprimarilyofnerve them. Ive been told by many adults how theypain in my legs and arms, abdominal pain, know someone with MS and how they haveheadaches, and a lot of fatigue. MS can also been cured or are functioning like a normalaect you mentally.person. First of all, the person they know isSchool can be tough and relationships with an adult who wasnt diagnosed with it as anfriends change. While many of the teachers, adolescent and MS can be very dierent withother school sta, and administration were the former as opposed to the latter. Theres nounderstanding, others not so much. They just cure for MS, and I nd something about theirmsfocusmagazine.org 38'