HOLLY WOODARD
(Photo by Anne Berry, Tevelyan Studios)
People With MS and the Courage to Give
Chapter 15: Taking the Path God Chose for Me
I COULD NEVER HAVE PLANNED or pictured my life turning out this way. I had no specific interest or knowledge in health care or medical equipment. But my diagnosis changed my outlook on everything. I began to understand the importance of insurance and what a lack of it can mean. By providing medical equipment and building ramps for people who can’t afford it and helping people get online, I feel more empowered, more capable of helping others see the possibilities of living with a disability.
It was the spring of 1996. For three months, I had been experiencing numbness, heaviness, and tingling in both my legs, and for a couple of weeks floppiness in my right foot. I went to my chiropractor because I thought I had a pinched nerve. He tried various tests and referred me to a neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon ordered an MRI on my brain. He then referred me to a neurologist who ordered MRIs on my upper and lower spine.
In July, my husband and I went in for the results; we had only been married about nine months. When the neurologist told us I had MS, I was actually relieved.
I had been told it might be Parkinson’s disease. I knew nothing about MS, but I did know something about Parkinson’s and thought MS had to be better. My husband was stunned. He really hadn’t thought it was anything serious.
By November, the fatigue and inability to walk very far without assistance was seriously impairing my ability to do my job. I was forced to leave the high pressure and fast pace of multifamily real estate and decided to go back to school for a computer degree so I could start a business at home. I didn’t know what type of business I would start, but it seemed like the only way to go. I couldn’t have made the transition without the information and support I received from my local MS chapter.
About nine months later, I fell and broke my leg. I had to get a walker instead of crutches since I was still in school and had a backpack to carry. The walker cost $160! I couldn’t believe that a couple of pieces of bent metal could cost that much. I was lucky; I had insurance to cover it, but I couldn’t help but wonder how the elderly and people on a fixed income could possibly afford such equipment. I live in rural North Carolina. Folks around here aren’t rich. How many people were going without the equipment that would allow them even the minimum of mobility and freedom?
I talked to friends who worked in health care and equipment fields. They all said the same thing: If you want to help people, start a nonprofit.
So that is what I decided to do. Mind you, this was quite the opposite of the life I had in mind. I would now be an unpaid volunteer doing something of everything to keep a nonprofit afloat.
I incorporated IMAGINE in January 1998, and we received our federal nonprofit status later that year. Two good friends with an interest in helping others and a passion for the mission of IMAGINE started out with me. We decided that we would focus on all the people who were falling through the cracks of the
state and federal systems, and we would do it on the honor system. Anyone who was a legal resident of North Carolina who asked for help would get it.
That’s how it still works today. We do not ask a lot of personal questions about income and insurance. Our “revolving gift” program allows people with disabilities to use our equipment for as long as they need it and then return it when they’re through. We then refurbish it and re-gift it. All our equipment comes through donations.
I could never have planned or pictured my life turning out this way. I had no specific interest or knowledge in health care or medical equipment. But my diagnosis changed my outlook on everything. I began to understand the importance of insurance and what a lack of it can mean. By doing this work I feel more empowered, more capable of helping others see the possibilities of living with a disability.
We are currently celebrating our fifth year of service with IMAGINE, and our service has expanded. Through corporate sponsorships we are now able to build modular ramps and give donated computers and Internet service, along with connection to our statewide listserve, to homebound individuals with disabilities.
Last year we began an annual Adopt-A-Ramp Festival and were able to build two ramps—one for a five-year-old named Colin, who has cerebral palsy. He is so sweet and has such a gorgeous smile. He immediately won over all the volunteers! It poured the whole day we were there, but Colin had a blast and created an atmosphere of love and laughter. We finished the ramp and everyone had a great time. The following week we came back to take photos of Colin coming down his ramp with his mother, and he laughed so hard every time. He begged her to take him up and down the ramp again and again. That is what the gift of giving is all about.
Since my diagnosis, I have gotten involved in my community in all kinds of ways. For five years, I have been teaching Sunday school for adults with developmental disabilities; I work with my local MS chapter as a volunteer ambassador; I work with the North Carolina Citizen Advocacy Network (NCCAN) on statewide advocacy on health-related issues; and serve as a peer counselor.
I am blessed to have a wonderfully supportive husband. Because of him, I have two talented and compassionate stepchildren whom I could not love more if they were my own. I have friends and family who support me regardless of whether or not I have MS.
My life has changed dramatically in the last few years—all for the better. MS has brought many blessings into my life, and has given me an outlook that I never even came close to before. All these things are possible because of the path that God chose for me.
For more information: www.ifuimagine.org
