b'Mary Pettigrew By Tony DiGerolamoI needed to purge my thoughts and feelings very few resources and organizations I couldsomehow, someway, so I started writing peruse online, so that resource oered mepoetry and I never stopped. limited support and fulllment at the time.MS Focus is proud to introduce the newest Facebook and Twitter did not exist back then,contributor to msfocusmagazine.com, Mary so I was very much alone, as no one aroundPettigrew. Mary is a graduate of the University me understood what was going on with me.of North Texas and spent fteen years in sales I was lost, anxious, depressed, and headedand marketing for the hospitality industry. In towards an extremely dicult divorce. 2001, after a month of lower body numbness, In 2009, in the middle of her divorce, Maryshe was diagnosed with MS. Mary writes a decided to nally attend a support group. Itblog, Reection and Renewal, and has been was short term, but a good experience forusing writing as a therapeutic outlet for the me. By this time, Facebook and Twitter hadlast decade. been around for a few years and Mary hoppedHer MS journey started like many others. on board. I found the MS community onI knew of the celebrities who had MSTwitter to be amazing, so thats where I set upAnnette Funicello, Richard Pryor, and Teri camp, Mary said.Garr.However,thatwastheextentofmy Luckily for Mary, she discovered a newawarenessofthedisease.Earlyon,Mary passion that would spark a light during thisbriey ventured out into the community, but dark time. I started writing as a therapeuticdidnt stick around long. Other than attending outlet right before divorce proceedings werea couple pharmaceutical-sponsored seminars, in full swing. This development was quite aIhadabsolutelynointerestingetting surpriseconsideringMaryshistorywithinvolved with the MS community as a whole. writing. I had an artistic and musical back-She continued, There were a couple local ground, she said, but writing and literaturesupport groups available, yet I refrained from were never an interest, nor had I excelled ingiving those a try. Its probable I was either English classes when I was in school. Marynumb to my situation or in denial for quite hadnoshortageofwordswhenspeakingsome time. about her new passion, I fell madly in lovewith writing. And, just like that, Marys futureFour years after her diagnosis, Mary had would be lled with writing. She continued,to step away from the workforce and, I still find it astonishing to discover thisunfortunately for her, things would get worse newfound passion and desire to learn morebefore they got better. Mary said, There were at the age of forty three! msfocusmagazine.org 30'