Neuro Note #2

For my second neuro note, I chose to watch a Youtube video titled "Multiple Sclerosis-Breea's Story". I chose this because I have known some people personally that have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but I do not have a clear understanding of what happens when MS is diagnosed and what the prognosis is. Breea was an 18 year old high school senior cheerleader when on December 8, 2011 she collapsed and was paralyzed on her left side within 24 hours of the incident after feeling unstable that morning. She was diagnosed at that point with a acute onset of MS and then became blind in her left eye and lost the ability to talk or swallow. She spent 6 weeks in the hospital where she received therapy services to hopefully get her back to herself. With support of her family and friends, she worked on things like feeding herself, writing, and walking. She gradually regained movement on her left side and her speech and swallowing returned. At day 46 after leaving the hospital, Breea started receiving therapy at home and in an outpatient clinic where she worked a lot of walking and grip/hand movement. At the end of the video, they showed her doing an assisted back hand spring 8 months after the initial diagnosis.

In an essay that Breea wrote for college, she talked about how her mom had told her that most people in her position would just be throwing a pity party for themselves and something that really stuck out to me was Breea's attitude and work ethic that she mentioned. She wanted so bad to get better and she responded to her mom that feeling sorry for herself was not going to make the lesions on her brain get better. She was a very hard worker throughout her initial recovery process that was shown and made such amazing gains because of that. She went on the graduate on time and start college at NAU.

In the description of her video, they included some facts about multiple sclerosis that I found very insightful and would like to share. MS is an autoimmune disease that takes its toll on the brain and spinal cord. The fatty, protective myelin sheaths that cover the nerves are attacked causing nerve signals to not fire as quickly or at all between the brain and rest of the body. This disease affects 2.5 million people worldwide with 400,000 of those in the US. Onset is low in young adults and even less in teens, with even fewer of those having an acute or severe onset such as Breea. I am sure that she is an inspiration to many and shows that healing is possible!


Resource:

Breeareneebeatsms. (2012, September 8). Multiple Sclerosis-Breea's Story. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfD9s1_TN0s