Every year over 33,000 Canadians in 125 communities walk in support of Multiple Sclerosis. A Stettler woman shared her 15 year battle with the disease with CTV News ahead of this weekend’s walk in Red Deer.
Philippa Brysiuk was diagnosed with MS in 2002. For many, it would have been devastating news, but for her it was a sigh of relief.
“When I had my first symptoms I had just had a tumour removed and I thought I either had brain cancer or I had ALS because we had just lost my mother-in-law to ALS,” said Brysiuk.
However, it is getting harder for her to manage.
“In the past few years my legs have started to weaken, my body has started to weaken, and the fatigue is overpowering,” she explained.
For her daughter Melissa Zimmermann, the severity of her mother’s disease never really hit her until she had children of her own.
“I was really concerned whether my mom would be able to hold my kids, or chase them. My grandma taught me how to tie shoes, so that was the first thing that came in my mind,” Zimmermann said.
But Brysiuk says she’s been able to modify her grandma duties to keep up with her grandkids.
She believes she’s been able to manage her symptoms by staying positive, always reminding herself that it could be worse, and by being a bit stubborn. “Tell me I can’t do it and that’s enough incentive to make me do it,” she said.
Zimmermann said she also pushes her mom to keep moving: “We do what we can to help keep her active...so her symptoms cannot progress as rapidly.”
The 57-year-old’s fatigue has been getting worse. She also has developed a symptom called drop-foot, meaning there’s a memory lapse in the brain where the foot forgets what to do, leading to slips and falls. She wears a brace now to help with that, and while she can only walk for about 10 minutes at a time she doesn’t let it bring her down.
“I try to put it in perspective… Sometimes I sit there and swear to myself and say ‘why?’ and then other times it’s like whatever it is what it is,” she explained.
Brysiuk acts as an MS ambassador to help others with the disease. “It helps to talk and say well this is happening to me, has it happened to anybody else?”
She explained that depression can be a big factor for some living with MS so she enjoys helping people, giving advice, and finding useful information for those struggling.
This Sunday marks the family’s 16th MS Walk in Red Deer. Her team is called the Memory Lapses, and they have collectively raised over $110,000 over the years and want to add another $20,000 to that number.
Brysiuk says they’ll keep walking until there’s a cure and is hoping central Albertans step up to help the MS Society.
They will be hosting a barbecue in Stettler in front of the Scotiabank at 4801 50 Street from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Friday, May 26. Brysiuk says all funds raised will go towards the MS Society and will be matched by the Scotiabank.
