National MS Society Focuses On Patient Services
DENVER, Colo (CBS4) Multiple Sclerosis is a devastating disease that attacks the central nervous system. 10,000 Coloradans suffer with the disease and 88,000 are impacted by it. The National MS Society is working to help all of them.
Tiffany Harper, 30, struggles with the symptoms of MS. She has numbness in legs, heat sensitivity, and severe dizziness.
"You start thinking about everything in terms of energy. How much energy is it going to take me to go to that event, to go to that dinner party, to take my kids to basketball practice?" Harper told CBS4.
Harper describes her life like being a hermit, staying inside all the time out of the heat and resting to save her energy. Her kids bear the brunt of the diagnosis too, limited by the symptoms that keep their mom down.
"I'm so young and I should be able to do those things. I just can't," Harper said.
Harper has been able to improve the quality of her life in several ways with the help of the National MS Society. Her care manager helped her get on Social Security Disability which allows her to spend her energy on her kids instead of making money. She also can get help with transportation, meals and adaptive equipment. Care management is really at the heart of the mission of the National MS Society.
"It really has to do with helping them advance their quality of life as they life with MS," said Jan Jerome, a care manager/counselor with the National MS Society.
The Colorado chapter of the National MS Society has two big fundraising events coming up this spring.
Walk MS in Denver is scheduled for Saturday, May 7th and there are other walks scheduled throughout Colorado in May
Bike MS is the weekend of June 25th & 26th.
-- Written for the Web by CBS4 Special Projects Producer Libby Smith
