MS is a Family Affair

I was lucky when I was diagnosed with MS. My boys were teenagers in high school, old enough to understand, and old enough to help with things. I met an MSer with very young children who was lucky enough to have family in town as well as a helping husband, but I still wondered how she did it.

When children or teenagers have a parent with MS or have MS themselves, they have the same questions as adults, and parents may not know how to answer. They often turn to the Internet for answers. Here is a young mother of two young children who was diagnosed ten years ago. She writes about Multiple Sclerosis -- Real life stories & Issues. It's worth a visit. Amanda is 26 and has 4 children! Her blog My Complications rants about daily life. She links to a Progressive MS bulletin board she helps manage on her sidebar along with a link to her recommendation of an online support group. And let’s not forget that men get MS, too. WhiteLightning is the blog of a young father, who writes in a fun story-telling style.My admiration goes out to you.

I regularly read Living Life as a Snowflake, a blog written by an MSer mom whose son compared MS with a snowflake: "...all different, no two are the same and...all special in (her) own way." What a lovely description. How lucky she is to have her son understand that well. She must have done a good job!

Raising children is not ever easy, but with a chronic disease it seems impossible. MS affects the MSer, but it doesn't stop there.

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