MS Stories
Michael from South Carolina, USA
We have asked MS warriors to share their experience with MS and having a rollator.
This is Michael’s story:
Michael first got MS in 2004, but after an attack in 2009, his walking ability has been on a slow decline. He started using a cane in 2016, two canes in 2018, and a rollator in 2020. The rollator was hard to accept at first, but he needed something sturdier and searched for “cool rollators” and came across our Carbon Ultralight. It helped, in his words, an “image-conscious 33-year-old”.
During Michael’s journey, he has been on five different DMTs and explored and implemented diet changes, exercises, and alternative therapies. He explains that each element has had pros and cons (and varying degrees of effectiveness), but that he overall remains thankful for the opportunities and hopeful for better days!
Talking about better days, during MS Awareness Month 2022, Michael got married to his wife, Victoria! He describes her as “an amazing person with a huge heart and a big smile, that inspires me every day”. Even though Michael is now mainly using a wheelchair, he has used his rollator to stand tall and meet her by the altar.
– Michael on how he planned to use his rollator at his wedding
Michael’s best rollator tips:
- Stay positive! That doesn’t mean hide how you’re feeling. If you’re feeling down, allow yourself some grace. But I’ve found success treating MS as a problem I need to do my part to solve… Or at least tolerate and compartmentalize 😉
It is not your whole world, you are “worth” just as much as before your diagnosis.
- Build a great team. This means family, friends, community, and medical. Have open and frank conversations about what you can do in life, and what you need a little help or understanding with. Stay engaged in your community, including the local MS community, it will be rewarding. And medically, I highly recommend finding care from a MS specialist neurologist, and/or medical institution or university. They should be able to provide you with a high degree of personalized care.
- Explore all the alternative/complementary therapies there are – but stay on the meds. After my first four relatively controlled years, I decided to take a break from my DMT. I went back on it after about six months, but my slow decline in walking ability had started in those months. I have found tremendous help from eating a clean diet (or trying to), vitamin d, probiotics, cbd, acupuncture, massage, etc.