Hello,
Just thought I would add my 2 cents here. I wrote a book a few years ago about my friend with MS. He has had it for 23 years now. He has RRMS and kept it at bay by exercising, and running. In the beginning he was bed ridden when he had his first attack unable to bath himself, or eat by him self, or take care of anything. Totally lost his dignity. He was also close to 285 pounds, 6'2 at that point.
Once he was back to walking, (while dragging his leg) he decided to try and start to run. That lead him to conditioning himself and losing close to 100lbs.
that seemed to work for him, he has never taken any medication that I am aware of. As of now, he has run 5 marathons.
Some of you may know him, a couple of years ago, he ran and cycled across Canada on a ten month trek to raise awareness for MS.It was my job to run the campaign, get media, tv, newspapers, arrange him running into city halls, police escorts etc. ...
What does all this have to do with anything you might ask???
I tried to get him onto Oprah,. and Montel. I had a connection to the previous executive producer of the oprah show, the one who makes all the decisions. At that time she was actually the producer of the Montel show.
The fact that we were from Canada did not help we figure, because we got know where. They did get a copy of my book, but felt his story was not inspirational enough. ....
I was blown away..but never the less, we did not get any acknowledgment for what he did, and all we wanted to do was raise awareness for MS, and give people hope to say, hey, if Robert can get into shape, there is hope that you can too, or at lease live a more positive life.
we were not worried about selling his book, because after he did his tour, the book was distributed in ten countries because we had support from Italy.
My whooole point here is, even though he did something really amazing, running and cycling close to 10,000 km, we got no real help from Oprah, Montel or Terri Garr,
Infact before the tour, we had the opportunity to meet her,(terri Garr) she took one look at Robert and told him to his face he did not have MS, he looked too healthy.
She asked him if he was taking medication and he said, no. Her response........Oh you better get on it quick....or else you'll get sick....that was 2 years before he went across Canada...so four years ago now.
By the way, Terri at that time was being sponsored by Copaxon to speak on behalf of that company, because she was taking the meds....Its all about money.
Just so you all know, I am aware everyone has different degrees of MS, i saw people right across Canada suffering from MS, some were confined to beds, wheelchairs etc...so i know Robert is a very special individual with MS, I feel he is chosen to help people, and for the record. ....
We head to Poland on Sunday, because he is being tested for CCSVI. IF he needs treatment, which I feel he does, he will then take on the role of speaking for those who can't. We will do something just as big as our last tour, to get the word out....
Anyway, that's all,
I don't personally have MS, but It is definitely in my life!! There are lots of people out here, who dont' have MS, who are ready to fight for those who do.
We are still raising awareness for this disease....you never really stop once you start !! For anyone who is interested, click on the link here, you can see clips from the tour across Canada, where Robert ran and cycled....even when he couldn't feel his legs or hands.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mstour1