Chino Valley High School secretary's story of life with MS

Seven cyclists on our team call Chino Valley, Arizona home. They are Jason Kelly, Mike Fogel, Al & Allee Steinberg, Janice & Zoe Dunn and me, John Coomer. Sometimes, we think that diseases such MS only affect others. Among local residents here in our small, northern Arizona town who live with MS 24/7 are my next door neighbor, a middle school teacher, and Ms. Kriss Dunn, an adminstative assistant at Chino Valley High School. I know there are more, but let's start with her story. Please support our cyclists, and Mashers, please feel free to use these posts for your fund raising efforts. I love to ride my bike, but let's cure MS and then we can ride for the next disease....we ride to create a world free of multiple sclerosis.

Here is Kriss Walton's story in her words:

Hi, my name is Kriss and I have multiple sclerosis. Sounds a bit like an AA Meeting – but to look at me you would not see a thing “wrong” with me – on most days. There are those days that I need a cane to make sure I don’t fall over and hurt myself – or anyone else for that matter, but for the most part I look “normal.”

Let me give you some background here about how I found out and what has happened in my life in the past 25 + years since my diagnosis.

Back in 1977, I was 19 and had just moved away from home when I had some unexplainable numbness in my hands and feet. About a year prior to these symptoms, I had had optic neuritis on two separate occasions. At that time, I remember a physician mentioning MS very vaguely. I just put that info on the back burner as I did not even know what “MS” was. I was tested for several things, a brain tumor, several neurological problems and test results kept coming back negative. At this point in medicine MRI’s were not around. Then I started having numbness in my fingers and toes. It felt as if they were “asleep” but would not wake up. No explanation for it and again more tests that came back negative. This went on for several years. Not knowing if I was losing my mind or if something was indeed really wrong I started to become really concerned that I had some major problem. It took about five years to get a relatively definitive diagnosis – again, without the MRI’s, the diagnosis was still “probable.” They put the pieces of the puzzle together and with the rest of the history of symptoms this is the best diagnosis that they could come up with. It was still a few years until I had an MRI that confirmed the previous diagnosis. At this point, I was relieved to finally get a true diagnosis – as I thought I was losing my mind and nothing was really wrong with me.

A relief for a brief moment and then panic set in. I went thru all the “what if’s” and the possible outcomes of my life and I was not too thrilled with any of them. However, after this brief bit of “pity- partying,” I decided that I may have MS, but that MS did not have me. In the years to follow I continued to experience MS and all the wonderful emotions and feelings that come with it. I became more and more unable to do certain physical things, such as running, roller skating, and a lot of other things I loved to do.

The hardest part of this was when I had my daughter and had a hard time playing with her as much as I would like – a lot of reading and quiet stuff – but we still managed to go to the park as much as I could. There were days when I hardly wanted to get out of bed because of the fatigue – but I just forced myself and did it. This is how I handle a lot of my life – some days I would rather just sit in bed and either sleep or just rest. However, since I work full time I am not able to do this – and I believe that this is a good thing for if I was able to just sit around I might get worse just for lack of any sort of motivation to keep going.

My job is good for me – it gives me a reason to get up in the morning and keep going. I decided a long time ago, that I would NOT go into a wheelchair and thankfully I have not yet had to do this. As I previously mentioned, I do use a cane – more and more as the years go by – just to add more stability to my walking and standing.

I have dealt with the cards that have been dealt to me and I believe with a bit a grace even. The hardest part of MS is that it is a disease that not many know anything about and I hear the phrase “but you look just fine” all too often when one knows not what to say. This makes me feel as if I am just whining and need to get over it. I finally got a handicapped plate for my car a couple of years ago and only use it when I am having one of the bad days. Heat is bad for me and makes me feel even worse so I moved away from Phoenix about 15 years ago. Every summer though, I look forward to more fatigue related problems because of the heat. I have a cooling vest which helps me to be able to be out in the sun more. I highly recommend it to anyone that is heat sensitive with MS as it is a mega saver for me. I am able to go to the fairs and horse shows, and camping without too much discomfort. I love the outdoors and without this vest, I would not be able to enjoy as I can with it.

The one thing that I would like to get across to the main public that does not know what MS is that you can’t always tell what a person’s disability is just by looking at them. I was at a Wal-Mart the a year or two ago and put my handicapped placard in the window and left to go do my shopping – I immediately grabbed a shopping cart to steady myself– since I did not have my cane by then and went into the store to do my shopping. When I returned to my vehicle someone had written on a note that “you don’t look handicapped to me and you should park so someone that really NEEDS it can use it.” That struck my heart hard and I did not use it for a long time after than even though I was in extreme pain. I have since gotten over that and if they are so ignorant, then that is their problem to become educated or stay uninformed and ignorant.

I take a lot of medication – narcotics for the pain, muscle relaxants for the muscle cramps and other medications to alleviate other symptoms. There is so far no cure for this debilitating disease but they are getting closer. All they can do is to try and make the person more comfortable and more able to function in the world without to much trouble.

This brings up another problem with people and their perceptions. Not too long ago, a few people at work started a rumor saying that I was on drugs and that I really shouldn’t be working in “that state of mind.” I was not stoned and when asked why they said that, they replied that I was walking somewhat unsteady and hanging onto the walls and slurring my speech a bit. If they would have just asked me or done some research they would have found out that MS has all these symptoms. If they had bothered to look into a bit more they would have noticed that I was using my cane that day and it was at my desk. But as people are prone to do, they jumped to a big conclusion and assumed that I was under the influence of whatever they figured it was – yes, I was under the influence, the influence of MS. I can’t count the times that people have made comments that “boy, it is too early for you to be drinking” because of their ignorance to my disease.

In conclusion I would just like to say that there are many wonderful, understanding people out there that are there for me in a heartbeat. I just wish more would see the “light“ and not be so judging without knowledge.