OLDS — The local A & W restaurant was packed Aug. 17 for Burgers to Beat MS, a fundraiser for the disease.
The restaurant also played host to its annual Cruise Night, so lots of people checked out the many vintage vehicles on display.
MS stands for multiple sclerosis. It attacks the central nervous system, disrupting communication between nerve cells.
Symptoms include fatigue, weakness, a numbing or tingling sensation, mobility issues, vision and bladder problems, cognitive impairment and changes in mood.
So far, there’s no cure, just medication to relieve symptoms.
Researchers have delved into MS for decades, but so far haven’t been able to determine precisely what causes it.
Current theories suggest that lifestyle, environment, genetics and biology may all be factors.
The Albertan spoke with two Olds residents who have MS.
Carole Thomas has lived with the disease since being diagnosed back in 2001. Joy Cavin was diagnosed in September last year.
Carole Thomas
Thomas was diagnosed as having MS in Brooks where she was living at the time.
“My family doctor thought it was a slipped disc so he gave me some medication. He said ‘if it’s not better within a week, come back, because I have some ideas.’
“I went back the next week and he just looked at me and he said, ‘I’m sorry Carole, but I think you’ve got MS.’”
It was suggested that that must have been terrible news to receive.
“I’m pretty resilient about stuff like that,” Thomas said. I’ve had a lot of different illnesses on and off. Just last year I finished a bunch of chemo and radiation therapy for cancer.
“So yeah, I’ve been busy," she said with a light laugh.
Medications to deal with MS have come a long way from when Thomas was first diagnosed.
She was given an injectable one but was taken off it. She used to have to see a doctor once a year in regard to the disease. Now she’s not due back until October, 2024.
“I’m on no medication at all now,” she said.
A recent MRI was also promising.
“He said they can’t find any lesions, anything different than the one I had 20 years ago.”
“I still get symptoms; I still get really tired and every now and then my legs go really tired. Heat just kills me,” Thomas said.
Fortunately, she said, a government grant for people with health-related issues helped pay for an air conditioner.
Thomas’s adopted daughter‘s grandmother on her birth father’s side had MS in her 40s.
“It’s not hereditary, it’s not going to affect her at all, but it’s still something to think about -- and now she's found her birth family.”
Now Thomas serves as an MS representative.
She attends events like Burgers to Beat MS and serves as a supporter for other MS patients like Cavin.
She was pleased with the turnout to the Aug. 17 event.
Joy Cavin
In Cavin’s case, the disease first showed up as numbness in her hands which then moved up and spread to her legs as well.
“I had left it for a couple of days – not knowing what it was – I was fully numb on the complete right side of my body,” she said.
Cavin went to the emergency department (ER) in Olds.
"The doctors there suspected it was neurological but they didn’t know what it was and (they) referred me to a neurologist in the ER in Red Deer,” she said.
After an initial CT scan, overnight stay in ER and an MRI the next day, she was diagnosed with MS.
“From September to March, I actually had four confirmed relapses and my MRI, between September of 2022 and March of 2023 showed six new lesions,” Cavin said.
As a result, she qualified for a new medication which has made a world of difference.
“I take a shot once a month and I haven’t had a relapse since March; amazing,” she said.
Back in September Cavin walked with a cane but during the Aug. 17 event she didn’t even need it, although she said she does need it every so often when she gets really tired or is “just having a bad day.”
“I’m feeling fabulous today," she said. “I actually have really great energy and I have really great stability right now and I’m not feeling numbness.”
Cavin said it was really tough to be diagnosed with the disease, but she has received great support from family and friends.
“I don’t think anyone gets the diagnosis of MS and reacts well. I think that you grieve your former healthy self for a while,” Cavin said.
“I was very lucky. I have a very strong group of friends and family and my church. They did a lot to help me get through the initial grieving process and to support me along the way.
“And there’s been some amazing support. I’ve had friends drive me to doctor’s appointments, friends bring us food, I had a lot of cards delivered in the mail, I had flowers delivered. It was an outpouring of support."
An MS clinic in in Red Deer has also been a godsend
“They are people that you can phone and ask questions to any day,” Cavin said.
“Every time you have a new relapse, you can phone them and tell them what symptoms you’re experiencing and they quite often will decide to book you in with a neurologist.”
Through the years, Cavin has been a very active volunteer in the community. She was asked if, as a result of the disease she’s had to cut back on those activities.
“I’m doing more,” Cavin said with a light laugh, noting in addition to her previous volunteer activities, she has lately been helping out with various fundraisers and awareness events for MS.
She knows that may not always be the case.
“It could change the way it looks to volunteer. I might not be able to be the person who’s doing the physical labour, but I’m there, and it’s not going to slow me down,” she said.
Cavin is grateful for all the support she gets from her husband Ray and their two sons: Matthew, 9, and Liam, 11.
In an email, Dean Bracken, who owns the A & W franchises in Olds and Bowden said "numbers were down just slightly but we raised about $4,300 between the two stores."
