by Tori Hall

Created on: May 08, 2008

I am living with a person that suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. I have been living with her for about seven or eight years now. That person would be my step-mom. I don't like that word "step-mom" because I believe that she has done a lot for me and a lot more than I would or could ask for. So I call her my mom. My mom was diagnosed December 21, 2001 with a disease known as MS. She started losing feeling in her legs that summer and just thought that she had a pinched nerve.

At first we really had no clue what Multiple Sclerosis was except that it meant multiple scars. So they did lots of research. I was too little to really remember any of it. A lot of the time I wish that my mom wasn't sick because I think we would be able to do more things together like go shopping, just walk around little stores and just have mother-daughter fun time. But all of those things are limited because her fatigue gets so bad, and when she gets that way she gets cranky and moody. When she gets like that I try not to do anything that could get her even more upset. That's the last thing I would want to happen. All because she's tired and can barely move without it almost killing her (not literally speaking). I wish that there was something that I could do for her when she starts feeling that way.

I love her to death and get worried sometimes when she forgets to take her shot and I always check in on her when I'm over at a friends' house to make sure she took her medicine. She says I'm like "playing mom" because I'm a worry wart. I just laugh it off. I don't know what I would do without her. I wouldn't have that person I can go to with everything or that I can gossip with without someone getting hurt. I wouldn't have that person that constantly nags me to clean my room or do the dishes before bed. I wouldn't have a best friend anymore. Everything and i mean everthing has changed. I have to help her get to the car. I have to make sure the store has a scooter. I have to help her remember things all the time. You can't interupt her or she will forget whatever she wanted to say. You can say things are way more difficult. But it's worth it to have such a great person in your life.

Most kids don't know how hard it is to really live with someone that has a disease or disability. It's really not as easy as you would think it would be. Every day, people take the little things for granted. Like when their parents are put in a situation that something could happen to them and they get worse. Then everything changes. You start to realize how important life really is.

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