Hi, my name is Tina (Tee) Chapman and I live in Waverly, Kentucky. I’m 45 years old, a wife, and mother. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) in 2000. I am a web designer and I own my own business which I run from my home office, on days when I feel up to working.

I am always looking for new treatments for M.S. And have taken the chance on several treatments, one being Novantrone, which has helped keep my progression somewhat in check. I’ve watched with hope and curiosity, the strides in Stem Cell Research and hope that someday, it will be available to treat M.S., and those suffering from other auto-immune diseases, spinal cord injuries and other diseases and disabilities.

M.S. has continued to rob me of the simple everyday things that I took for granted. Walking unaided, enjoying the warm weather, running and playing outdoors with my son, attending church on a regular basis, staying awake for more than a few hours at a time… things most of us take for granted, a person with M.S. fights to hold on to day by day.

I spend my days either sleeping, or sitting in front of the computer doing my web designing and chatting with friends, because I don’t have the energy to do anything else. I miss out on so much of my son’s life at school, and just around here on the farm because I’m too tired or I don’t feel well enough to enjoy things with him.

My son, even though he is only 13, tries to understand that “mom is sick… again”, but I know it is hard for him when other mothers are participating in school events, helping out in the class room, going on fieldtrips, and his mom just can’t do it. Although, he would never say these things, I know they are there. He is a great kid and I’m proud of him. My dad was always the “fixer” of problems, and this is very frustrating for him to see his only child live with this disease. Same goes for my husband. This isn’t the life he bargained for, I’m sure. But he works hard and he tries to be supportive and understanding. More so in the last year, I think before that it was more of a denial process than anything else.

Things I used to do without a second thought are now either impossible for me to do, or take so much time and effort that I just give up trying. Simple things like taking a shower and getting dressed to go out somewhere take planning and are time consuming. It used to take me 35 minutes from the time I woke up till I was out the door on my way to drop my son off at school and make my way to work, now it takes me at least 2 hours to just get up and get my shower and dressed, since I have to rest between each step of the process. And there are times that by the time I get my shower, I’m too tired to do the rest of it, so I forgo even going out to a simple dinner.

My life with MS isn’t all bad. I do have a loving and caring family, lots of friends, and lots of prayers that come my way. Now, if we can have some of those prayers answered and allow Stem Cells to be researched, maybe I can enjoy doing some things with my son while he is still my little boy.

Guestbook has been disabled due to spamming from a casino site. I hope to have it back up again as soon as the spammers get bored with their games.

Tee

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