WEBVTT - MINI: Mitch's sister Becky chats about her experience getting a Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:01.920 I was talking about this on the show last week. 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:05.680 But me and my entire family, the Zamchuri Family, which 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:07.800 is the little team name we came up for. I 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:11.600 took part in the MS Walk Run role, which is 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.240 it's kind of like there's many different steps you can do. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:16.640 You to a five K, ten K mini marathon, quarter marathon, 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.080 whatever you want to call it, raising money and funds 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:23.240 for MS research here in Australia. My sister Becky has MS, 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:27.160 was only diagnosed very recently with in the last six months. 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:27.720 Also pregnant. A lot going on. 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:29.480 I just firstly wanted to say thank you to you 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.640 girls end of the pickup listeners. We smashed our goal. 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.120 We like tripled our goal of fundraising and racist under 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:35.800 ten thousand dollars. 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:37.120 Well, that's amazing. 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.040 You guys should be so proud really honestly because what 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.879 you're doing raising awareness, raising money. I know we're going 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:45.720 to speak to Becky more about it, but it's yeah, 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:47.880 you should be really proud, and I'm sure Becky feels 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:48.800 a lot of love. 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:50.479 Yeah, well that's I wanted to get Becky on to 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:52.640 join us because here I am telling her story about 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:55.080 it being diagnosed with MS, living with MS walking and 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:56.240 they run and roll with MS. 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:57.640 But I wanted to bring out of the show. So 0:00:57.720 --> 0:00:59.640 Becky for the first time pick up debut. 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:04.479 Welcome show, Hi, Hi, Hello, Hello, how are you guys? 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:06.400 I can't believe this is your debut. I think maybe 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:08.600 because I know you. I feel like you've come on 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:13.160 well literal family and you know. Yeah, Becky, you were 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.480 diagnosed with MS. What was that like for you? 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:17.840 And I say that because I think there's a lot 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:19.760 of people that don't know much about it. But like, 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:22.919 at the time, did you know something was quote unquote wrong? 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:24.959 What led you to be diagnosed? 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:29.840 Yeah, definitely, Like I had a three year battle just 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.200 to get diagnosed. So by the time I got diagnosed, 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:35.160 I think I was actually relieved that someone finally believed 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:39.200 something was wrong. Initially I had It was around the 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.360 COVID time I got COVID. I got a vaccine and 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:45.200 then I just like causes some people with immune kind 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.279 of responses to flare up, and I started losing my vision. 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:50.960 I was at work and saw like we'd stars and 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:53.040 I went to the neurologist. I had an MRI and 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:55.440 he was like, look, you just have anxiety, like relaxed, dude, 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.680 some mindfulness come back. So then me and my husband 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:00.640 pretty much fought for like three years because I was 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.640 having like severe migraines to the point of losing vision 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:05.720 on the way home from work, like it got really 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:09.079 bad fatigue, numbness and pins and needles down my arm. 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.320 And then yeah, I pushed and pushed and pushed, and 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.200 eventually they did a lumber punk show which actually came 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:19.119 back negative, which is like one of the criteria to diagnose. 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:22.000 But the main thing in the NAY found was I 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:24.600 had progression of one lesion over a three year period, 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.560 which is very minimal. I'm very lucky a brain. They 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:29.919 were yes, a brain lesion, so I only have them 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.480 in my brain, but I had had one more lesion 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:35.359 in my brain. My neurologists was like, look, I think 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.480 it's still anxiety, and I was like, look, I'm getting 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.520 a second opinion. Mitch actually put me onto a really 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:43.919 great neurologist who had me with an MS specialist the 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.240 next day. Mitchell in his connections, I don't know where fun. 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:49.080 Everything. 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.960 Well, she kept saying, at the doctors are saying you 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.360 don't have anything. So I called everyone I knew and 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:56.280 we got her in and that's when she got a diagnosis. 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:58.720 So this is my question, Becky, you would now have 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:01.840 spoken to other people who have been diagnosed with MS. 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.480 Is this something like is this experience of being told oh, 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:06.920 you know, it's not this, or it could be this, 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:09.400 or kind of it being downplayed? Is that a common 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:11.600 experience or is that just something that was unique to you. 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:15.920 Look, I think it's hard because unfortunately, it's such a 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.400 weird disease that presents in so many different ways. Like 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:20.720 I've met one hundred people with MS, and probably five 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.000 people have the same symptoms, So I think it presents 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.480 so differently. You can either have brain lesions, spine lesions 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.600 both and it really it really depends then on what 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.200 your symptoms are. But I mean, I spoke to a 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.760 lady this morning, just randomly, and then she was telling 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.320 me that like her thirteen year old niece or something 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:41.520 that were investigating her for MS and she'd been gas 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.160 lit and I told her it was, you know, migraines 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:45.800 as well, and I was like, keep pushing, like, go 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.200 see this specialist. You need to get to the bottom 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.760 of it, because ultimately, starting any treatment early is the 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.760 key to not well, hopefully if the treatment works for you, 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:56.760 it's not progressing as sick as you. 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.880 Yeah, yeah, Becky. And I mean for anyone who doesn't 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:02.840 know what MS looks like, and I think that that 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.880 would be a great deal of people. What does that 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:07.560 like for you if you were to say, if those 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.640 symptoms were to progress, what does life look like without treatment? 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.000 Well, I think it's really like for me personally, and 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.760 I can only speak to me. Like my everyday symptoms 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:19.200 is I have really bad static vision in my eyes, 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:21.640 so when I'm in a room, everything white is static 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.120 and everything black is static. I have problems like the 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:26.960 lady next to me today at work is wearing a 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:28.920 multi colored shirt and I can't look it up because 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:30.680 I'm like, it's making me feel like I'm going to 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:34.000 pass out, you know, like reading a book. I can't 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.120 read a book because I can't see the letters they 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.680 all move. But for other people, like I know a 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.120 girl that woke up one day and couldn't move for legs. 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.880 So I think the problem is that it's an invisible 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.600 disease and that I can be feeling terrible but still 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:50.640 turn up to family lunch and put a brave face 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.560 on and smile, you know, whereas other people they can't 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:55.480 even you know, they need a wheelchair or they need 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.280 a cane to help them out. I just really want 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:00.720 to spread awareness for it, and they're people out there 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.760 that it is a bit too late and the medication 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:07.279 doesn't work for them. Like so, I mean, the closer 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:09.120 we get to research and money for a QR, and 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.479 there's some amazing clinical trials going on at the moment, 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:12.880 the better. 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.200 Bye guy, Mitch. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:19.839 You should be so proud of yourself as well for 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:21.800 raising awareness. I know how much this has affected you 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:23.680 in your family, but you guys are the best. 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:25.640 Yeah, it's I mean, I've got a brain condition too, 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:27.559 and I feel like Becky got MS, which is greater 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:28.400 than my brain condition. 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:30.000 I'm like, great, I just have to sit here. I 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:35.080 just get headaches. And again I'm not even bringing attention 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:35.719 to my own brain. 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.080 Mitch's brain actually comes out the bottom of his We 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:41.640 can talk about that. 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:45.280 Updates my brain Becky's brains. 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.559 All right, Well, look, speaking of brains, I have something 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:49.680 that I need to admit after this. 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.839 I forgot a really really really. 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:57.080 Important event, a really important anniversary, and I feel horrible 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:59.200 about it and I need you guys to make me 0:05:59.200 --> 0:05:59.920 feel little bit better. 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.680 Okay, we can do that, no promise, it's easy. We'll try. 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:03.560 We might double down.