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A Personal Journey to Wellness WINTER 2015 ISSUE: 2015 Wrap-Up Page 13 CONNECTION A PERSONAL JOURNEY TO WELLNESS WINTER 2015 Permit # 01870 # Permit Hartford, CT Hartford, PAID U.S. POSTAGE U.S. ORGANIZATION NON-PROFIT Mike Marques Photography Your gift today brings us closer to a world free of MS tomorrow As the holidays approach, we ask ■ Information & Referrals that you support the National MS ■ Support Groups Society, Connecticut Chapter, this ■ Scholarships season. ■ Care Management With your help, the Connecticut ■ Financial Assistance Chapter can provide hope for those ■ Community Programs: living with MS. * Healthy Living As a non-profit organization, we * Research * Educational rely on charitable donations in * Newly Diagnosed order to continue funding critical * Pediatric MS & Young Adults research in our state and provide With MS services to those in need such as: * Family & Caregivers Make a donation today at ctfightsMS.org NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE CONNECTICUT CHAPTER TEL: 860.913.2550 CONNECTION On The Road to Wellness 1.800.FIGHT MS (344.4867) FAX: 860.761.2466 n October, the National MS Society announced a new mission www.cTFIGHTSMS.orG statement: “People affected by MS can live their best lives as we www.naTIonalMSSocIeTy.orG stop MS in its tracks, restore what has been lost and end MS Iforever.” John W. “Jack” Betkoski, III Over the past few years, great strides have been made in the field CHaIrperSon, Board oF TruSTeeS of MS research focused on allowing people to live their best lives. In addition to groundbreaking medical and scientific advances, the Lisa Gerrol National MS Society and the medical community have developed preSIdenT and ceo an acute awareness of how important ‘wellness’ is for those living 860.913.2550, exT. 52531 with a disability. The Society alone has funded 78 projects focusing on the areas of wellness in MS. COMMUNICATIONS Wellness is defined as the state or Cynthia Bidorini condition of being in good physical ASSocIaTe VIce preSIdenT and mental health. This means not 860.913.2550, exT. 52530 only receiving the best physical care, DEVELOPMENT but also attending social programs such as support groups, MS Vaca- Kara Preston tion Week or MS Family Discovery VIce preSIdenT Weekend and joining the online 860.913.2550, exT. 52533 community at MSConnection.org. OPERATIONS By staying involved, you’ll not only Loretta Sfiridis find support for the person living VIce preSIdenT with MS, but support for all loved ones who have been affected by the John “Jack” Betkoski, III 860.913.2550, exT. 52525 disease, helping them feel empowered to help fight MS, too. PROGRAMS, SERVICES & ADVOCACY In the winter months, I understand that it is exponentially harder Lynette J. Coleman for someone who needs mobility assistance to get out and about, VIce preSIdenT and that is why it is so imperative for us at the Society to do more. 860.913.2550, exT. 52538 In these pages you will find information about multiple aspects of wellness – including diet, exercise and mental health; but we can’t EDITOR IN CHIEF fit it all into one magazine. The Society has an entire section of its Jacqueline Sembor website dedicated to this topic at nationalMSsociety.org/Living- Well-With-MS, and I encourage you to explore all that it has to GRAPHIC DESIGN offer. Hal Wood We also need to continue to pledge our support of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which celebrated its 25th anniversary SPECIAL THANKS this past July, and work to promote access for those living with a disability. We need strong advocates to lend their voices to the cause so that we can continue the momentum we’ve gained in the past few years. It is my personal mission to help pave the way to a world free of CALL TO ACTION MS, but in the meantime, we need to keep taking steps, together, Studies show that early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can reduce future disease activity and improve quality of life on the road to wellness. for many people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s medical advisors recommend that people with MS talk with their health care professional about using one of these medications and about strategies and effective treatments to manage Jack symptoms. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is committed to ensuring that people with MS have the information and quality care that they need to live healthy, productive and independent lives. John “Jack” Betkoski, III If you or someone you know has MS, please contact the National Chairperson Multiple Sclerosis Society today at nationalMSsociety.org or 1.800. FIGHT MS to learn about ways to help manage multiple sclerosis and about current research that may one day reveal a cure. A Personal Journey To Wellness by Cynthia Bidorini, Associate Vice President, Communications “I stay active and I don’t let MS define me. It’s such a small piece of who I am.” — J oy Pozefsky 4 n any given day, one will find Joy Pozefsky hiking Over 6,500 Connecticut residents, like Pozefsky, are with her dog, Okee, in the woods near her home affected by multiple sclerosis, a potentially debilitating in Clinton. For an hour or two the duo will disease affecting the central nervous system. The cause is Otraverse the terrain, take in the fresh air and exercise their unknown and there is currently no cure. Symptoms can bodies and minds. It’s a way of life for Pozefsky who, in include numbness in the limbs, difficulties with vision and 1991, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of speech, stiffness, loss of mobility and, in some more severe 22. Her journey hasn’t been easy; in fact, it’s been a long, cases, total paralysis. The progress, severity and specific difficult road with plenty of ups and downs, but she’s symptoms of MS in any one person cannot be predicted. persevered by keeping a close eye on her personal health. Despite her health struggles, Pozefsky focused on living “As I think back, I can remember having symptoms her best life and carried out her passion to help children by as a young child,” began Pozefsky. “I would complain of working full-time as a fifth grade teacher. Unfortunately, numbness, particularly on my left side. In high school I the stress of her job led to an exacerbation that forced her also suffered from tingling and severe fatigue. My symp- to take a leave of absence. While she had every intention toms worsened in college when I began to experience of returning to teach, she ultimately made the decision to severe tremors, a sensitivity to hot and cold, and difficulty leave her job permanently. with memory, thinking and concentration. I would go to “I knew that what was most beneficial to my health was the doctor and be told, ‘You’re fine. You are just a Type not having the stress of full-time work,” explained Pozef- A, stressed-out college girl.’ I knew it was real, but no one sky. “Rather than step away completely from education, I believed me.” decided to volunteer at my church, teaching catechism. I Determined to find an answer for her illness, Pozefsky am strong in my faith, and I love being around children, met with a number of physicians, each unable to provide so it was the perfect fit for me.” an explanation, until she met with a neurologist in Strat- Pozefsky’s switch from a full-time career to part-time ford. He asked probing questions about her symptoms, volunteer work was just the first in a number of lifestyle performed a spinal tap and MRI, and finally made the changes. Always having an interest in health and nutri- diagnosis. tion, Pozefsky started reading and doing research on diet “While I was extremely upset when I was told I had MS, and exercise and its impact on the body. She began incor- a disease I never heard of, I was also relieved,” admitted porating yoga and hiking into her fitness routine. She also Pozefsky. “I had been describing the symptoms of MS for started taking supplements including Vitamin D3 and a years, but no one had made the connection.” probiotic. In 2003, she took her first step in modifying her Only one MS-approved medication was on the market diet by eliminating gluten. in the early 1990s. Because allotments were given to med- “The process of changing my diet happened gradually,” ical practices based on size, Pozefsky was referred to Yale explained Pozefsky. “I would eliminate a certain type of where her odds for being selected for the disease-modify- food and watch to see how it affected me. I was forever ing therapy would be higher. Her diagnosis was confirmed altering and tweaking the foods I consumed based on how and for the next 10 years she used betaseron but suffered they made me feel.” from flu-like symptoms. For a person living with MS, the road to wellness involves more than treatment of the disease and its symptoms. Equally important are health promotion and prevention strategies, satisfying personal relationships, a strong support network, fulfilling work and leisure activities, a meaningful place in the community, and adequate attention to one’s inner self. — National MS Society Mike Marques Photography Mike 5 After nearly 12 years of personal research and modify- my left eye, through a spell of paralysis from the chest ing her diet, Pozefsky now believes she has it correct. She down, to now. But sometimes I think he feels helpless.” follows a strict diet that consists of organic grass-fed meats, Recently Todd found a very special and meaningful way organic berries and vegetables, nuts, seeds, full-fat coconut he could help.
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