SPOKANE, Wash. – On Saturday, hundreds, if not thousands, in the Spokane community will come together at Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) to support those battling Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Currently, there is no cure, but there are medications that can slow the disease, according to multiple online sources. No two people suffer with the exact same symptoms.
One local mom struggles with MS on a daily basis.
“I could not move, I had difficulty breathing,” said Morgan Smith. She started to feel her body get weak before locking herself in her room while she tried to gather herself. “My 3 children were knocking on the door shouting for mom… And I couldn’t help them.”
Smith was a huge athlete growing up. Her two favorite sports were golf and skiing, but she hasn’t been able to do either in about a decade, since she was diagnosed with MS.
She played a lot of sports and made fitness and physical activity a huge part of her lifestyle.
But slowly her body started to deteriorate. It started with fatigue. Smith was a teacher and on her way home from school, she would have to pull over to take a nap because she was so exhausted.
At times, she would lose all feeling in her hands and legs, to the point where her husband would have to carry her home when her body collapsed underneath her.
Smith’s vision got progressively worse until she was legally blind.
Her MS got so bad that it made everyday tasks impossible. She couldn’t go downstairs, open the door, or even button her clothes.
Thankfully, her health has since improved, and she says it’s because of her medications and this community.
“It’s called Ocrevus, which was funded with Multiple Sclerosis Walk donations,” said Smith. “So my treatments would not exist without the MS Walk.”
Smith’s battle with MS has some similarities and many differences to Darla Arnold’s.
She was diagnosed back in 2011 at the age of 43 after she got into an accident on a dirt bike. Arnold crashed while going up a hill and her body never fully recovered.
She had a concussion, her right side was hot and her left side was cold, and she had walking, vision, speech, and memory issues.
It got so bad that she would have a conversation with her daughter, turn around, then turn back and restart the same conversation.
Darla asks anyone who has the time to join in on the walk this year, regardless of how close you are to the disease.
“Most people know absolutely nothing about it,” said Arnold. “But they’ll hear or see something [that gets them to the walk].” That’s my favorite part because now I get to elaborate. Why they’re here, what they’re doing, how they’re helping.”
Arnold’s hope is that they find a cure as soon as possible because she doesn’t want her daughters to go through what she is.
This year’s walk is on April 13, at 10 a.m. and if you would like more information click here.
