Today was all kinds of special.
It was the first-ever Virtual Walk MS event for a team of MS activists nationwide – MS Activists in Action. Of course Dan and I were totally on board when they invited us to join the team and raise money to help support research and programs for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. But then we received an invitation we never anticipated: they invited us to serve as guests on their Facebook Live panel of activists to share our experiences through our advocacy work.
For real.
It was such an incredible opportunity to use our stories to help us and the nearly 1 million other people throughout the U.S. living with MS. And this capped off an intense month of activities for us within the MS community that included receiving national recognition for our blog, getting featured on one of the most popular and influential MS vlogs, writing exclusive online content for a top MS magazine, and connecting with statewide legislators at the first-ever Virtual MS State Action Day in Michigan.
There’s a lot to share with you, so let’s go.
MS Activists in Action
Like nearly everything else in the world, COVID-19 totally altered the way the NMSS did its Walk MS events this year (we weren’t able to do our traditional walk in Frankenmuth, Michigan, with our team of family and friends, Team MonsterS). All the walks were held virtually, and they encouraged everyone to Walk MS YOUR WAY.
Here’s how we walked:
Healthline’s Best MS Blogs of 2020
Healthline Media is among the industry leading resources for health information, and it was such an incredible honor to receive this kind of recognition for our a newly redesigned and rebranded blog. What made it even more meaningful for us was when we read the article and saw that A Couple Takes on MS was included with so many other engaging MS blogs that we respect and admire.
deedubs and NoStressMS
Sometimes you’re in the right place at the right time, and that totally was us when we met Damian Washington at an MS event in Chicago late last year. Damian is one the most passionate and dynamic influencers we know in the MS community. His positive, yet realistic voice and outlook inspire us each day. And so, we were both excited and humbled when he invited us to appear on his vlog NoStressMS. The conversation clocks in at nearly an hour, but he is so engaging in his interviewing that it truly only felt like it took about 20 minutes.
Dan’s MS Focus exclusive
The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation recently invited Dan to serve as a contributor to its online and print magazine MS Focus. Pretty cool, right? With this, he is developing different articles and essays to help comfort, encourage and empower other people to move forward in their lives with MS.
This past week, his first essay of exclusive content was posted online! Check it out to see what led him to say, “There’s an empowering adage out there many people use to stay ahead of life with this disease: ‘I have MS. MS does not have me.’ I celebrate this because it definitely works in not giving the disease more control than it deserves. However, I’ve taken this even further to minimize the role MS actively plays in my life: ‘I. Own. MS. The end.’”
Virtual MS State Action Day
After a great virtual start-up meeting in morning with nearly 50 other activists statewide, engaging virtual meetings with Representative Abdullah Hammoud, and Senator Peter MacGregor and his Chief of Staff Patty Hertrich, connecting with our Representative Roger Hauck and Senator Rick Outman through emails and phone calls, and completing our follow up surveys, we are calling the first-ever Virtual MS State Action Day a success! Check out our YouTube video Help Yourself and Get Your Voice Heard at Virtual MS State Action Day to learn about what issues we discussed with our lawmakers and how easy it is for you to get involved as an MS activist.
