Walking for a cure

Doctors diagnosed Judy Hole with Multiple sclerosis five years ago and she says the one of the biggest changes to her life was asking for help.

Hole work as an infant, child development worker at Dilico Anishinabek Family Care but had to retire because she said she found that she became too fatigued. She said since being diagnosed she has to ask for help a lot more.

"I’m very much a doer and I like to get things done the way I like to get things done but I had to really let that go," Hole said. "There’s lots you want to do by yourself for yourself but that’s not always the possibility when you have MS. It’s been a huge learning curve for me and my family. You just have to learn how to modify your day. Do things simpler. I can buy my groceries but I might not be able to bring them into the house or maybe do a half a load of laundry at a time."

Multiple sclerosis is often diagnosed in young adults, aged 15 to 40 and can affect children as young as two years old. MS is unpredictable and can affect vision, hearing, memory, balance and mobility. There is no cure.

Hole said living with MS means, every day is different often making changes to ones lifestyle and asking for help when necessary.

The 33-year-old mother of two attended the 20th annual MS Walk at the CLE grounds on Sunday. She came to the event with her husband, Scott, and her children, seven-year-old Kenny and eight-year-old Jerimiah as well as the rest of her family. The whole family dressed up as pirates to show their support to Hole.

Hole said she was glad to have such support from her family.

"Fortunately I have lots of loved ones and have the support from my family," she said. "I’m very lucky to have them walking for me and with me."

Laurie Tulloch, vice-chair of the Thunder Bay Chapter MS Society of Canada, said they hoped to raise more than $20,000 from the walk this year for the local chapter. The money will go toward helping residents who have MS and toward researching a cure, he said.

"Until we find a cure, we got a lot of people out there with MS that we have to help," Tulloch said. "When my wife, Joanne, was first diagnosed with MS 20 years ago there was very little information about it. Back in the day when she was diagnosed people didn’t want to tell anybody. I think today the attitude is more like yeah I got it, lets deal with it."