I figured that it was about time that I put a blog post up on the website so that those of you who don’t know me and the story of the Walk A Myelin Our Shoes Foundation can learn about why we are here and why this organization was started.
Two and a half years ago I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It was a devastating time for me and was completely unexpected. Unlike many, I did not experience very many symptoms. I was in Mexico at my sister’s wedding and went completely blind in my right eye. As I was in Mexico, I did not have the luxury of visiting a hospital immediately so wasn’t able to seek proper medical attention until a week after the blindness occurred. I still remember the day so vividly at St. Paul’s hospital in Vancouver; I went in by myself thinking I simply had a sinus infection that was impeding my vision. The last thing I expected to be told was that I had Optic Neuritis, a symptom indicative of MS. Within months I was officially diagnosed with MS, a diagnosis that has changed my life forever.
Over the next year I began to experience other symptoms including vertigo, fatigue, vision loss, heat sensitivity and pain in my legs. My life had been completely turned around, I went from being an active person to someone who needed to come home and take a nap after 8 hours of working in an office. I had cog fog and was forced to cut back my hours at work as I just could not get out of bed some mornings. I went for my yearly check up and was told that I had new lesions appear on my MRI and that I needed to begin on a beta interferon in order to hopefully stop the disease from progressing.
I attended an info session on the number of drugs that were available to me; unhappy with all the choices I began seeking alternative therapies. I started going to a naturopath and taking supplements that helped gain some energy back. I went to a massage therapist and changed my diet. Nothing made a significant difference. Then, one night I saw an episode on W5 talking about the liberation treatment discovered by Dr. Paolo Zamboni, I began to look into it further and decided that this is what I wanted to try.
On March 1, 2011 I attended the Hubbard foundation and was liberated by Dr. Ponec, all I can say is I HAVE MY LIFE BACK. I don’t need to take naps after work anymore, I no longer experience cog fog or pain in my legs. 2 weeks ago I was able to walk a full sized golf course! I didn’t need a cart!!! This was huge for me as I hadn’t been able to do this since my diagnosis.
With my new found energy I decided that I needed to help those that could not help themselves. My cousin Melanie and my girl friend Jennie shared my sentiment, and as a result we began the Walk A Myelin Our Shoes Foundation. I was fortunate that I could afford my surgery, now I wanted to help those that could not. As I began researching into how to start a foundation I realized that the liberation treatment/CCSVI was not the only alternative therapy available to those with MS, it made us see that this disease affects everyone so differently, and as such, so do the various treatments. That’s why we are here, to help those that cannot afford those various alternative treatments, because everyone deserves the chance to get their life back.
Today I am over 4 months post op and I feel better than I have in ten years. I am so excited to be helping others like Michele (our first recipient) and I can’t wait to help even more. As devastating as my diagnosis was I wouldn’t change it even if I could. It is what gave me the strength to start this organization and help those that need our help!
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to contact the Foundation should you have any questions at all, we are here for you guys and we will help in anyway we can.
All the best
Carmen Amundsen
