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‘I just don’t let it stop me’ says MS sufferer

Philippa Brysiuk remembers the day it all changed. On February 7, 2002, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
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Bryce Lynn

Philippa Brysiuk remembers the day it all changed. On February 7, 2002, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, commonly known as MS, and her whole world was turned upside down.

Today she’s one of several ambassadors for the MS Society of Canada, continues to work full time, and remains mobile despite the encroaching and debilitating disease.

“I just don’t let it stop me,” she said.

She, along with others at Scotia Bank where she works, her husband, and Terra Leslie from the MS Society branch in Red Deer, lit up the barbecues in front of Scotia Bank in Stettler on Friday, May 16, selling hot dogs, pop and flowers to raise money for the Scotia Bank’s MS Walk team. The relay takes place on May 25. The barbecue raised $686.20 this year, Brysiuk said.

Brysiuk’s MS is categorized as “relapse and remitting,” meaning it “comes and goes.”

“I get nasty spells and brief reprieves,” she said. She continues to be able to walk, sometimes independently, sometimes with a cane, and sometimes with a walker, all depending on how she feels.

What she doesn’t feel is her legs – the disease has stripped away sensation there.

MS affects the human body’s nerves in the brain and spine that help transmit signals from the brain to the nerves to the muscles. Depending on the severity of the disease, it could be as simple as numbness, or as debilitating as completely losing control of your limbs, ability to walk, speak, talk, and eat.

Brysiuk is somewhere in between, but she speaks out about the disease to help raise awareness and raise money for research so that someday, people who are diagnosed with the disease will have the reassurance of treatment, or a cure.