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Michele’s Blogging for WAMS Foundation !

 

Hi Everyone,

I am really excited to have been invited to be the blogger for the WAMS Foundation! I will be blogging about my treatment and my continued journey with MS, as well as sharing other information and interesting findings about MS and ways of healing that might help others.

For those of you that don’t know me, I am Michele Mateus, the first recipient that was chosen to be helped by the WAMS Foundation, you can read more about my story here https://wamsfoundation.comfirst-recipient-of-aid-from-wams-foundation/.

I would also like to personally thank everyone again for their support on raising the funds needed to help send me to get my CCSVI treatment! We raised a total of $17,000 at the fundraiser on May 13th, 2011, and a week today I will be having my CCSVI treatment! I will make sure to post a blog entry after I have my treatment to let you all know how it went : ) It is a dream come true that I am even getting to do this surgery, so thank you to all that contributed to making this happen for me, all the wonderful volunteers on the night of the event, the the WAMS Foundation team, my friends and family and colleagues and fiance, the sponsors and donors of silent auction items, and thank you to those that could not make it to the event but did make donations through the website.

I hope that through reading these blog posts you will learn and be inspired by what I share with you; if there are topics you would like to know more about please let us know as there may be a possibility that I could research them and perhaps use them as my next blog topic.

So watch this space for my blog posts, and don’t forget to follow along on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Best of Happiness and Health,

~michele

Jennie, Carmen, Michele and Melanie share a group hug at the end of the WAMS Foundation fundraiser in celebration of a successful night!

3 Michele

First Recipient of Aid from WAMS Foundation

Michele The Walk A Myelin Our Shoes Foundation is proud to announce our first recipient Michele. Michele represents the epitome of the people our Foundation aims to help; despite Michele’s medical challenges she has persevered in life and hasbecome a stronger and more positive person. The one thing that Michele lacks is the finances to seek alternative treatments for her disease. This is where we can help. Please meet Michele:

In 2009, at age 32 Michele began to lose her vision, and went blind in her left eye. Naturally, Michele didn’t jump to the conclusion that she had Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and instead thought it must have been connected to her recent laser eye surgery. However, visits to the optometrist and doctors quickly showed something much more serious. She was diagnosed with Optic Neuritis, a common precursor to MS. After a number of tests, it was confirmed, and Michele was formally diagnosed with MS. Subsequent treatments restored most of her vision and Michele maintained her positive attitude; not letting the diagnosis get her down. Standard MS medications were offered to her, in which included weekly injections, but through learning of all the side effects Michele was unsure about this route and instead decided to try managing the disease on her own through adapting a healthy lifestyle including yoga, health supplements and attention to nutrition.

Michele’s strategy appeared to be working, and in 2010 Michele and her boyfriend Don went to Japan to visit what Michele refers to as her Japanese family, as she had lived there 12 years ago and was excited to finally be returning for a long overdue visit. They trekked around the country for 3 weeks, and  while there Don proposed to Michele! Making their trip even more exciting and special. Michele remembers saying to Don how she felt so fortunate to have the strength to trek around Japan, and share a part of her life that was so special to her with him, as she had been feeling progressively weaker in the weeks leading up to their trip.Upon their return, Michele and Don moved onto their next exciting new venture, planning their wedding! However in February 2011, Michele started to feel very fatigued and was struggling for the physical energy to get up and face the days. As always she tried to remain positive knowing it would help her overcome any potential obstacles, but on March 2, 2011 Michele began to feel a weakness and numbness in her legs. Within three days, Michele was hospitalised and was unable to walk or feel her legs. Essentially, Michele was paralysed from the chest down.

It was this relapse that shook Michele’s positive attitude.  She felt at a loss as her ability to walk had been taken away and her independence lost. She spent her birthday in the hospital with friends, and made the best of the situation. Ever the fighter Michele, is working hard through pyhsio everyday to regain her ability to walk without aids, and combat her cognitive dysfunction, that she describes as trying to get to the next level on a video game “you know the course, but there are so many funny new little things that pop up out of nowhere in your way,”  said Michele. She has found creative outlets that have kept her connected as well as allowed her to support others with MS, while she herself is still in her own healing process. She has joined the World Wide Good News, awebsite that she posts video blogs on that describe her experiences with MS and how one can cope and keep positive even with the illness. She was introduced to the WAMS Foundation and has been given another reason to believe that things can be even better for MS patients.

Michele is an active member of her community, working in a local community arts centre, volunteering for various organisations year round and always giving whenever she can. She is seen as someone who inspires and motivates others in both her professional and personal life. A lover of culture, music and the arts she has spent much of her time learning through working with people, and savouring the joys and riches that life brings through personal connections.

Michele has spent her life giving to others, and even though she is not physically able to give as she used to, she continues to give from within the confines this terrible disease has given her. She is a testament to the human spirit and inspiration to those who know her.  And now, to all of us as well.

1 2011 WAMS Foundation Fundraiser

WAMS FOUNDATION 1ST ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

Ticket purchases can be made by donating minimum $20 through our donation link and then showing your printed receipt at the door.

The goal of the Walk a Myelin Our Shoes Foundation’s (WAMS) is to help MS sufferers’ access alternative treatments not available to them through the standard medical systems.
Richmond Auto Body Presents:

WAMS FOUNDATION 1ST ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

Friday May 13, 2011
7pm to 11pm
At the CBC Studios
700 Hamilton Street Vancouver, BC

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