From a 14 Year Old's Point of View.

My oldest son came home from school on Wednesday afternoon with note from school. He won "Honorable Mention" in our local Rotary Club's essay contest. The topic was "Laws of Life". I asked him if I could read his paper and he said he did not have it and then I asked what he wrote about and he told me it was about me and my MS. He brought the paper home today and it is below.

1/22/09 Stop and Smell the Roses

It was around late October last year when my mother found out she had Multiple Sclerosis. It impacted my life greatly. First finding out, I had no clue about the seriousness of the symptoms. It made me quit worrying about the things I don't have and appreciate the things I already have. Upon finding this out I realized I just needed to stop and smell the roses.


This disease has many symptoms that affect her day-to-day life style. One symptom that affects her is poor balance. She always has a difficult time walking. I used to always think she just walked in a weird way but the MS causes her to walk in a different way. It also makes her dizzy and she often stumbles over the smallest of things. Another symptom is weakness. She is very clumsy and she has a tendency to drop things. When my mother walks, she often drags her leg, she cannot control it when she does this. One of the last main symptoms that affects her is her memory. She has a difficult time remembering things and usually needs to hear something more than once. She also senses that she is thinking in a fog.


Ever sense my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I have tried my best to help her in every way I can. I usually let her hold on to me when we are walking into the store or up some stairs so she doesn't lose her balance and fall. My mom recently started using a cane to get around because she does not want to embarrass me by holding on to my arm. She can be so stubborn some times but I still love her.


Now more than ever, if I tell my mom something I need to write it down for her or tell her two or three times to make sure she doesn't forget. This gets very aggravating for me but I just have to remind myself of the symptoms she has. It seems like every time we go somewhere in public someone just has to stare at her. She is perfectly fine and has nothing wrong. So what if she drags her leg or sometimes forgets things, normal people forget things and drag their legs also. They act like they have never seen it before.


Although my mom may drag her leg and forget some or most of the things I tell her unless I write it down, I still love her no matter what. She is no different to me now than she was before she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This has impacted my life in a tremendous way. Either way mom is still mom and people need to realize what they have and just take time to Stop and Smell the Roses.