Living with MS can feel isolating - but it doesn't have to be

Metro Detroit woman battling MS shares her story

Symptoms for Regina Cox Parham started when she was 19. It began with numb feet and her hands not working.

FOX 2 - Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable disease and it can make you feel a little isolated. It is also why a simple walk can be so rewarding.

The backstory:

"It is an isolation you feel like you're the only one struggling," said Regina Cox-Parham, MS Society.

Symptoms for Regina Cox-Parham started when she was 19. It began with numb feet and her hands not working.

Doctors ordered an MRI and told her to take folic acid and vitamin B supplements. Two years later, things got much worse.

"I being 19, never followed up on an MRI and every time the symptoms came back, I just pulled out the folic acid and the vitamin B again because it would come and go," she said. "(In) July of '99, I woke up and I couldn't feel my hands. i couldn't feel my feet. I couldn't, just put on regular clothes. I had to put on a dress because I couldn't button anything."

Then came the MS diagnosis. Multiple sclerosis  is a neurological disease in which the body attacks the covering of nerves. This breaks down communication between the brain and body-impacting everything from vision to muscles to mood.

As a young woman, Regina dealt with her shock and sadness by joining an MS walk.

"For the camaraderie, if nothing else, right? To know that you're not by yourself," she said. "We have 21,000 people here. It's not just you. right? Also, you get to see there is joy. On the other side of that, there is joy on the other side of that diagnosis."

Now more than 20 years later, Regina still has her MS support team, and she too works at the MS Society of Michigan, encouraging hope. 
  
"I am actually great, my symptoms," she said. "You know I have symptoms daily, right? But for the most part they miss the balance. I haven't had a major relapse in probably about 10 years.

"So, you know, I'm just taking it day by day and whatever I'm doing is working. And I'm going to continue doing that."

Walk MS Detroit is happening on Sunday at Miliken State Park. There are a couple of routes accessible for everyone, with one lasting one mile, and the other three miles.

The site opens at 8:30 a.m. the ceremony starts at 9:45 a.m. and the kickoff for the walk is 10 a.m.

You can find the information HERE.