FeedsResident overcomes challenges of disease
Fatigue, loss of balance and muscle coordination and impaired vision are all common symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, Edress Williams, 37, doesn’t let the disease hold her back from doing anything.
“It’s a scary diagnosis. It’s easy to get discouraged or frightened because it takes you off the beaten path, but you overcome that fear,” she said. “I overcame it because it is what it is.”
Williams, of Belleville, first saw symptoms when she was 17 and, after 10 years of searching, she finally received an accurate diagnosis.
“I was a senior in high school at the time and was active in track, cross country, gymnastics and weight lifting,” said Williams. “It started off as tingling, cramping and numbness in the legs. I was told it was probably a pinched muscle so I went on with my usuals.”
In 1991, she had a mild attack. Her feet ‘feel asleep’ and didn’t ‘wake up’-the numbness traveled up to her chest and stayed that way for two weeks. By the time Williams called the doctor, the symptoms went away, she said.
Six years later, a major ‘exacerbation’ happened, which eventually led to her diagnosis.
“It got to a point where I couldn’t even bend over and tie my shoes,” said Williams. “The way I explained it to the doctors was that I couldn’t connect my thoughts, I felt like my legs weren’t attached to my body and that although I knew I was walking, I couldn’t feel my feet hitting the floor.”
“The next day at work I could feel my body stop functioning,” she added. “I went back to the hospital, got a spinal tap and when I didn’t feel anything from that, the doctors realized the protein was present that I had multiple sclerosis. At that point it was about finding out what to do, how to treat it and how do I live with it because it’s not going to stop.”
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, progressive disease of the central nervous system. Williams has Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis, which means symptoms come and the majority of them go away.
She receives treatment from the MS Clinic through University of Michigan Hospitals and gets an injection of Rebiff medication three times a week to slow down the progression of the disease.
“The symptoms are easily managed by me. I make sure to get enough sleep and relax my body,” said Williams. “My biggest problem with the disease is that other people have a problem with it.”
Williams has lost several jobs because of the illness, but she continues to move along raising her two sons, ballroom dancing and gearing up for her new job in Palm Beach, FL.
She also travels as an MS Lifelines Ambassador to help educate and motivate others through awareness of multiple sclerosis.“MS has changed me, but it doesn’t define me. I’m a person capable of everything you do,” Williams said.
“I’m not ashamed of multiple sclerosis; it’s a part of me. People can live with it, live very well with the disease. There are positive things happening all the time.”