I have been dealing with RR MS for almost 40 years now. I have suffered with MS since I was 7. I have been given every worst case scenario out there I was told at 19 that I would not make it into my 40's but should I be "lucky" enough to reach that I would have "no quality of life." So as I approached my 40th birthday 7 years ago, I was completely dreading that birthday fearing that it might be my last. I was actually doing a private training session with my personal trainer when he asked what was on my mind and why I was so upset that day. So I told him what the doctor had said to me and my mom all those years ago. He just told me to come and sit with him and asked me what else they had told me that I would never be able to do again. I told him I wasn't supposed to walk, or talk again following my exacerbation at 19 when I had my worst relapse. My worst relapse I just wanted to be left alone to die. I had a feeding tube, 3 IV's, I was on oxygen, I had no way of communicating my vocal cords were paralyzed I couldn't even tell the nurses when I had to use the bathroom. My mom and my twin sister were there to see me everyday but the only person that I really wanted to see was my dad. My dad had a real fear of hospitals and it was intensified when I was hospitalized. He stayed home because there were four other children to take care of so most of our visits were done over the phone. He was the nicest man with the biggest heart I have ever known he would give you the shirt off of his back if he thought you needed it more than he did. It goes to say that I am in my 40's now and am living my best life. I was on BetaSeron for almost 20 years before I decided to read the inch thick book of side effects that have been associated to the medication when I realized that I was experiencing all of the very rare side effects except for two of them. I went to see my GP and took the book with me and he did the same thing as I had done with the side effects and he started checking them off with a pen. He had checked every one of them except for blindness and leukaemia and asked me point-blank which one scared me enough to stop the medication. I told him that it was the blindness that scared me. His only response was your not afraid of leukaemia, I shook my head no and said well I know I can beat leukaemia but if I go blind there is no way of getting my sight back. Fair enough makes sense to me I'll support your decision then. Since then I have been dealing with my MS by way of diet and exercise. At the age of 43 I completed the New York City Marathon and became the first Canadian with MS to complete the marathon actually in New York and not virtually. When this pandemic started my trainer realized that I needed a challenge to avoid from going right off the deep end with my depression and challenged me to find a world record that I could beat. So on September 12, 2021 with my husband behind the camera on my phone and my trainers in my ear I set a Guinness Book of World Records record I managed to bike 53.16 kms in an hour beating the previous record of 35.3 km we are still waiting on the final review of the evidence that should be coming in very soon. We are currently setting up to break another record we have not made public which record we are chasing but I'll let you all know which one it is once we get the equipment that we need for me to train with. In conclusion I am almost 47 and have honestly never felt better in my life. Over and out for now, Toosje