My MS Journey: Chapter 10-Peace By Any Means Necessary
Every Journey has a destination, but the most meaningful ones never truly end. They simply evolve into something greater than you originally imagined.
6/27/20264 min read
The Good Always Outweighed the Bad
When I look back over everything I have shared in this series; the diagnosis at 24, the vision loss, the weekly injections I dreaded, the fatigue that slowed me down in downtown Atlanta, the flares that forced me to reassess everything, I want you to know something with absolute certainty. Through all of it, the good always outweighed the bad. That is not something I say lightly or because it sounds nice. I say it because it is the truth of my life and I have lived every chapter of it.
My children are older now and they are excelling in everything they do. Watching them grow into the people they are becoming has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. Every sacrifice I made, every lifestyle change I committed to, every hard day I pushed through — I would do it all again for the joy of being their mother and being present for their journey.
Ten Years of a Better Normal
For the past ten years I have been on a every six month infusion to help manage my MS and the difference compared to my earlier years of treatment has been remarkable. I have not needed a steroid infusion in years. Let me say that again because I want it to land the way it deserves to. I have not needed a steroid infusion in years. For someone who spent so much of her earlier journey managing flares and recovering from infusions that made her feel like she had the flu, that is not a small thing. That is a testimony.
I believe wholeheartedly that my treatment alone does not deserve all of the credit for where I am today. The changes I made to how I live my life have played a significant role as well. Cutting back on fried foods and adding more fruits and vegetables to my diet gave my body better fuel to work with. Keeping my body moving even on the days when it would have been easier to sit still, helped me maintain energy and strength that MS would have otherwise slowly chipped away at. And perhaps most importantly, I made a non negotiable commitment to keeping my peace by any means necessary.
That phrase is not just something I say. It is the principle I have built my life around. Peace is not passive. It is not something that just happens to you when everything goes right. It is an active daily choice to protect your mind, guard your energy, manage your stress, and refuse to let the things you cannot control steal the joy from the life you are actively building. Living with MS taught me that lesson in a way that nothing else could have. And I am grateful for it even when it was hard — especially when it was hard.
Turning Pain Into Purpose
If you had told the 24 year old version of me sitting in that neurologist's office scared, alone, trying to process a diagnosis she had never heard of that this disease would one day become the foundation of her purpose, I am not sure she would have believed you. But that is exactly what happened.
Over the past several years I have had the honor of stepping into spaces and doing things I always imagined but wasn't sure were possible for someone navigating life with a chronic illness. I became a Featured Blog Contributor for the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, sharing my story and my perspective with a community of people who needed to hear it. I serve as an MS Ambassador with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, advocating for awareness and supporting others who are walking the road I once walked alone. I participated as a Panel Participant with the American Society for Neurochemistry, bringing the patient voice into rooms where important conversations about this disease are happening. I have served as a Patient Speaker for Genentech Inc and contributed to Patient Advisory Research with Rare Voice.
I plan to add more to that list. That is a promise I am making to myself and to everyone who has followed this journey. I am a busy body and I have no intention of slowing down, at least not in the ways that matter.
What I Want You to Take From This
If you have read every chapter of this series from the beginning, thank you. Thank you for sitting with me through the hard parts and celebrating the good ones. I shared this journey not because it was easy to relive but because I know someone out there needed to read it. Someone who just got diagnosed and doesn't know what their future looks like. Someone who is in the middle of a flare up and can't see past the hard day they're having. Someone who has been living with MS for years and needs a reminder that a full, purposeful, joy filled life is still possible. It is more than possible. I am living proof.
MS is a part of my story but it is not the whole story. It never was. I am a wife, a mother, an advocate, a speaker, a writer, and a woman who keeps her peace by any means necessary. And I am just getting started.
Thank you for reading My MS Journey. If this series resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it. And if you are navigating life with MS or supporting someone who is, know that you are not alone.
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