Sunday, April 10, 2016

Today, I am reblogging for a friend. Please share.
From Scott Borgman

The BORGman Collective


This won't be a long blog, so I hope you'll take the few minutes to read it. I try to do what I can to help support other authors, causes, charities, local area fundraisers... just to name a few. On April 30, 2016, I'll be taking part in Walk MS: Marshfield. And I would like to ask for your support.
 
 
Having been diagnosed with MS myself late last year, this is something that I am doing - not only because it's a for a good cause, but because I know personally how it has affected both myself and those closest to me. There is no cure for MS. Much of the disease is not even understood because of how randomly it effects those of us who have it. How random? Anywhere from a few months to ten years or more between 'fits' as we call them.
 
It's a waiting game, more or less. You wake up every morning and go about your day as you always do, but in the back of your mind, there's the thought: Is today the day another fit is going to strike?
 
I found out I had MS rather brutally. What started with tingling in my fingers one day, which I initially assumed had been because I had simply slept weird, spread to my palms within a day. A few days later, my left leg went dead. I literally had to drag it around. Walking was nearly impossible. It lasted for almost a month before the fit ended and I could walk normally again. For now.
 
You see, there are several different forms of MS that have been discovered. Mine happens to be Progressive Relapsing MS. The simple explanation for PRMS is that it gets progressively worse with each recurring fit. Which means the next time it hits, it will likely be as bad or worse than the last fit. Each fit leaves a permanent scar on the brain, kind of like a sick, demented 'I was here' tag. The MRI that I had done revealed that it had not been the first fit for me - it had been the seventh. 
 
So I'm taking part in Walk MS: Marshfield while I can, because the next time it hits, I may not get the use of my leg back, or worse. No one - not even my specialist, who has studied and devoted the last twenty years of his life to studying the disease and trying to understand it - knows what will happen.
 
MS is like lightning during a thunderstorm. Others like me who have MS know the lightning will strike, but none of us know when, or what will be affected. That's what makes it such a difficult disease, not only for us but for our loved ones. 
 
My wife, Nyki, has formed a team of us who will be walking on April 30, 2016 in Marshfield, WI. As I'm a Star Trek geek, I came up with our team name, The BORGman Collective (I thought it was rather clever!)
We would like to raise funds for the National MS Society, which is what this walk is for. Any donation you make goes directly to them.
 
From left to right:
DeAnna, Michael, Jhessica, Scott, and Nyki Borgman
Here is the link, which will take you to the team page:
 
 
I hope you will make a donation, no matter what amount, and help spread the word. Bloggers: please reblog. Tweeters: please blast the Twitterverse. Facebookers: please click that share button.
 
As an author, my job is to bring out the emotions of my readers. I hope I have succeeded in that endeavor with this blog. Thank you everyone.


All My Best,

Scott A. Borgman