10 Things I've Done DESPITE Having Multiple Sclerosis

In 2000, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. When I was forced to leave the best job I'd ever had and go on disability, I thought my life was over. It wasn't. Here's the top ten things I've accomplished since then.

1. I have written and published four novels and one non-fiction book.

2. The first novel I published, The Bond, A Paranormal Love Story, has won an award, been translated into Turkish and movie producers have looked at it.

3.  My third book, Missing Flowers, had over 10,000 downloads during a four-day free promo.

4. Missing Flowers was number one in Germany during these four days for a short time.

5.   I've had two  Amazon number one best-selling books. The Bond and Missing Flowers.

6. My books are in select libraries across North America.

7.   I'm the Vancouver Voyageur, I walk around the city, taking photos, recording history and meeting people.

8.  I write a blog on Vancouver and its history – the Vancouver Voyager - which has gained notice from other parts of the world.

9. A local magazine approached me and asked to use some of my photos from the Vancouver Voyageur in a layout.

10.   I've started a career as a motivational speaker, another way I help people realize what they can do in life.

If you feel that you are ready to start living life again, to accomplish goals and do more than you ever thought you were capable of, then stop trying to figure it all out on your own and make sure you don’t go another year without seeing some success — click here

I might be able to help you by mentoring you & giving you a step-by-step system that I have been using for the last 15+YEARS to realize dreams and go past my diagnosis. click here 

To your success, 

Karen Magill 

P.S. It is NOT right for everyone – but if you feel having me working with you almost “daily” & giving you a proven step by step system to follow will help you get your life back on track then click here for more details.

The Cure is Here...Almost

Living with a chronic illness like multiple sclerosis can be a life of emotional ups and downs - a rollercoaster. Ever since I was diagnosed in 2000, I've heard how close medicine is to a cure for the disease. It seems that a few times a year, a new breakthrough treatment has been discovered that is going to eradicate MS forever. 

Then, as quickly as the excitement started, it seems to fade away as people realize there is no magic potion that is going to return them to perfect health.

Stem cell - as far as I know the procedure is still being performed but I don't hear about the miracles being brought forth with this procedure.

CCSVI - another procedure that looked so promising. I've known people who flew to European and Latin American countries to have this procedure done. I don't know of anyone who had great and wondrous results and recently I heard that the blockage, which the procedure removes, can grow back.

Those are the two biggest 'cures' I can think of.

We are also bombarded with suspected causes of whatever chronic illness a person has. Aspartame causes MS so people get rid of artificial sweeteners in their diet but the MS stays. Not enough Vitamin D so we load up on supplements. It is our modern day diet - get rid of grains, eat only organic fruits and vegetables and grass fed meat.

We end up with a cupboard full of vitamins and supplements, an astronomical grocery bill and, many times, little improvement in our overall health.

So what do you do? We want to get better, to live a healthier, more meaningful life but what kind of life are you living if you are continuously chasing the next cure? If you are only focused on that next treatment that may cure the disease and are always looking for it, are you forgetting to live life for today? Remember - no one has promised us tomorrow.

If you feel that you are ready to start living life again, to accomplish goals and do more than you ever thought you were capable of, then stop trying to figure it all out on your own and make sure you don’t go another year without seeing some success — click here 

I might be able to help you by mentoring you & giving you a step-by-step system that I have been using for the last 15+YEARS to realize dreams and go past my diagnosis. click here 

To your success, 

Karen Magill 

P.S. It is NOT right for everyone – but if you feel having me working with you almost “daily” & giving you a proven step by step system to follow will help you get your life back on track then click here for more details.

The End of Life as I Knew It

It occurred to me that, although many of my readers may know that I have multiple sclerosis, they may not be aware of how it all started. So today, I am going to tell you.

I want to take you back to June 5, 2000. The alarm sounded and I rolled over to turn it off.  But my left arm didn't move so I silenced it with my right hand. Then I tried to climb out of bed but as soon as I put weight on my legs, the left one collapsed. I didn't have a lot of time to worry about it though because nature was calling. I crawled the short distance to the bathroom and hauled my body on the toilet. After I had finished there I was able to put some weight on the leg and I pulled myself up to the vanity and leaned against it. While brushing my teeth, I noticed that e left side of my face wasn't moving. It was as if someone had drawn an invisible line down the centre of my body. One side worked while the other didn't. Something was wrong but what?

The weird thing about this is that I wasn't terrified. I didn't call for an ambulance or find my way to the nearest hospital. No, I went to work. I did call and make a doctor's appointment as soon as they opened and the doctor sent me to the emergency room at St. Paul's Hospital.

Picture this. I am sitting in the emergency room at a large hospital in down town Vancouver and I have lost most of the use and feeling in my left side. Did I mention that my maternal grandmother died of brain tumour at this hospital in 1937? You can bet I thought about that possibility.

It took me over six hours before I was able to see a doctor. He poked and prodded me and asked me the same questions my doctor had. Then he left to get a neurology intern who came and did the same thing! All they would tell me was that it wasn't a brain tumour. Relief! But I still didn't know what the problem was.

In total, I was at the hospital for seven and a half hours before being allowed to leave. With no answers by the way. I was fed up by that time and just wanted to go home. I had the phone number of a neurologist to call and make an appointment so I guess events were promising.

On June 7, I went to the neurologist who did the same thing the other doctors had. The change this time was that he sent me for an MRI.

I was lucky. I managed to get in for an MRI within a week - usually it takes months to get one - and nine days after I woke to find my world turned upside down, I was called in the neurologist's office and given a diagnosis:

Multiple Sclerosis.

Actually, he said a suspicion of multiple sclerosis but it is more dramatic the way I said it.

The diagnosis was actually a relief in many ways. In 1986, at the age of nineteen, I went horse-back riding and the horse had a heart attack and fell on me, cracking my skull. Obviously, I recovered but I was left with strange things happening to my body. Like sudden numbness in my legs or arms that would go away. I was getting unexplained pain all over my body. Doctors never had an answer but now someone may have given me a reason why these things kept happening to me. As my late father said,

"The Devil you know is better than the one you don't".

I was told to take five weeks off work to rest and I thought great! I wanted some time off anyway. I will rest then go back to work and my life will continue as normal. Was I ever wrong!

Are you curious as to what happened next in my life? Tune in again and I will tell you.

The photos are from Morgue File except the one of St. Paul's Hospital. I took that one.

See ya next time!