We're gonna need a bigger boat!
I met my fiancé in 1998. She told me right away that she had MS. I had no idea what that meant but she seemed perfectly healthy and we hit it off just like in the movies. We moved from Chicago to Nashville where I could pursue my dream of becoming the next big thing in country music. Well, I happily landed a job singing at a very popular spot and we started our journey together. She started experiencing exacerbations and we went to the MS clinic and she began treatments. She had injections, physical therapy, we tried everything available. We vowed to fight this together (little did I know how prophetic that would become). Over the years as she lost more of her mobility I took care of her day and night. My job allowed me plenty of time to care for her. I did everything I could to make sure that, even with her being in a wheelchair, we were leading the most "normal" life possible. As time went on I began limping and getting weak. I lost my job and between caring for my wife and my constant falling I could not hold down a job. We feared that I was suffering caregiver burnout and moved in with her daughter to get some help and save money. As my condition worsened, I lost a great deal of weight and was at a point where I could barely walk myself. I finally went to a Dr. when I was diagnosed with MS myself! We were stunned. Within a year I was unable to give her the care she needed and she was admitted into a nursing home in Nevada. I am now living with my brother in Florida awaiting a decision on getting disability pay. That's how we are now, separated but still very much in love and trying to figure out how we can reunite and what our future holds together. We always supported each other but now, with an entire country between us, we are in the same MS boat together.
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