Someone Like Me

Dear someonelikeme community,

I was lucky enough to volunteer for a commercial that is connected to a very important campaign. After research and some reflection I decided to write a blurb that I hope you will share with your social media support networks. I am really inspired by the work the MS Society is doing and I feel like as young MSers it is important to help spread awareness. I hope you feel the same. Please share this post if you have the time. I thank you in advance.

If you saw a movie over the long weekend or happen to still have cable you may have seen this commercial…

Now let me tell you why this ad means more to me than turning 25 this weekend. I have now lived for 25 short years and in that time I have experienced 8 long years of life with MS and NEVER BEFORE have I seen a commercial for MS – at least not like this.

In 2009, the National MS Society described the history of MS as “a detective story spanning more than a century” and can trace what we know as MS in autopsies that date as far back as 1838. For us Canucks in 2015 we know provinces have reported various incidence rates, which are the number of new cases of MS per capita in a given year. These rates rival some of the highest incidence rates seen around the world, and researchers are trying to determine if the high number of diagnoses are due to a factor that is unique to Canada or if it’s a reflection of changes to our diagnostic technology. The two things to take away from this are:

a) MS has been around and has been a mystery for awhile

b) For as much as they know about the disease there is still so much more they need to discover (more…)

Sooooo it’s been a LOOOOOOONG while since I have felt inspired to blog. I won’t lie. I could give excuses but I guess the real reason is I haven’t made time for it. I am more of a chatter box and I have yet to hire a scribe. Today however is a day I felt warranted some conversation. Currently I am 24 years old and my 25^th birthday is in only two days yet today always seems way bigger than my birthday. This is because 8 years ago today (at around 11:00am) I was diagnosed with RRMS.

I can remember it was bright outside but cloudy, I was wearing my favourite family guy pyjamas, drinking a mocha Frappuccino from Starbucks, and pumped full of the worst steroid ever: Prendizone. It had been about a week since I had been transported to Sick Kids from a different hospital because there wasn’t a paediatric Neurologist in our town, and 6 months since my symptoms had started. It was also two days before my 17^th birthday. (more…)

My name is Amanda…and I have MS

… I wasn’t always ok with this fact, but after a year of adjusting I decided to accept that my disease is out of my control but what I do about it is in my control. Maybe this sounds like you or someone you know? If it does then I may have just the thing for you. It is called someonelikeme.ca, and it is a website dedicated to bringing together youth like us, because talking to someone who gets what you are going through is not easy to find and sometimes it is easy to become hidden behind the label of disease.

You will notice there is an ellipses between my name and my diagnosis, make no mistake this is intentional-there is so much more to me than this disease. For example: I was born and raised in Ontario, in the small town of Aurora just outside Toronto. I am a university student currently studying theatre, history and everything Canadian. I am die-hard Billy Talent fan but will pretty much listen to any kind of music. I am immensely passionate about the arts. I live for live theatre and plan to be in the professional world of theatre someday soon as an actor/stage manager. I could go on and on and on…but I usually save that for my blog.

Did I forget to mention??? YOU can also blog and tell your story on this site!! I have been a part of this community since its inception and just recently we have added new bloggers. This means opportunities for new voices and new stories. Maybe you have MS, or maybe you are close with someone who has MS. Either way we are waiting to hear from you, and I can tell you that there is nothing better than meeting someone who understands what you are going through.
I do hope to see you there!!!! Who Knows? Maybe you’ll even find someonelikeyou ;).

I’m also part of the national Youth Advisory Group for the MS Society of Canada! Interested in joining us and getting the voice of youth out there? The group is looking for new members between 15-30 who either have MS or who are close to someone with MS. Think about it….

thanks for your help!!!!!!
♥ ,
Amanda

Changes. It is not just a kick ass Bowie song. Hi everyone my name is Amanda and this is what is left of my blog…

I have been struggling to find something to write. I love this blog and the site and as one of the people who helped nurse it to life I have felt a great connection with all of you. Even if you don’t read my blogs per say, there are many blogs to read and much to discuss in the forum. I think however I still struggle with how to present the kind of topics I want to present while also remaining objective enough to allow for me not to shape or taint your views but instead to offer something to think about. There are many stories surrounding various “hot topics” within the ms society and while I could offer you on the one hand the account of what I have been up to (at the risk of it being nothing other than literature you can fall asleep to at night because I have mostly just been at school) I want to begin a conversation of innovation.

(more…)

I am Amanda and this is my blog. 😀

So if you have never read my blog before (or spoken to me for like 5 seconds) then you won’t know this but I actually have two loves: the arts (as I struggle along to try to be an actor lol) and sports (but mostly baseball). In June I discovered the perfect marrying of the two: stage combat.

In order to not confuse a lot of people stage combat (learning how to safely and effectively fight for the stage) is an art and in order to make it look the most effective takes a TON of time and effort…and if you don’t believe me then pass by Rapier Wit sometime and see for yourself.

But back to my story, I decided this year, after completing my theatre program in university (YAY!) that I would begin certification to be an actor-combatant (which is a really cool title 😀 ). I decided, probably because I am crazy, that I wanted to do my basic certification in two weeks as part of the intensive rather then spread out over months…and thus began one of the hardest things I have accomplished yet. (more…)

Hi I am Amanda and this is my blog…

“US Drag is a term coined by William Burroughs…” It is also a kick a$$ fringe show I have had the extreme pleasure of being a part of. Since April I have witnessed some VERY talented actors rehearsing, and me (the youngest of them all) got to be their stage manager. The amount of responsibility that goes into this role was way above my head at the time I agreed to the project however thanks to the support of the director, Tom McHale, and the producers, Samara Stern, Zoe Gamache and Josh Vokey, I was provided with all the tools I needed to excel-and managed to have some fun along the way.

The Toronto Fringe Festival runs two weeks in July every year. It features original works, well-known plays and plays that exist but for whatever reason aren’t put on all that often. Our show, US Drag, was written by Gina Gionfriddo who is a witty playwright that has created a very episodic and very “film-like” play. (more…)

Hi I am Amanda and this is my bloggg 🙂

THE WEATHER IS GETTING BETTER!!!!!! This means two things: symptoms caused by unbearable heat AND CAMP!!!!!!!!! 😀 😀

So hi everyone!  I have been MIA for awhile for many reasons (thankfully none of which are health related) but all of that you will definitely hear about (and if you are in Toronto and reading this perhaps you can even catch the plays I am involved with? Lol) later, today I gotta talk about my favourite week of summer: MS CAMP!!

You are probably thinking “MS camp? Lame.” If this is what you are thinking I guarantee you are not only wrong, but maybe also a little bit confuzzled, because MS Camp is actually the best. It is so amazing that I become this inarticulate pre-teen when describing it.

This is how I see it, when you go to camp you can just be. You can meet a bunch of people who know EXACTLY what you are going through. My friends from camp know me. They know me better than some people I have known for years and most of them I can only see at camp. They understand your frustration and your angst and your rage towards MS because they have it too, and the best part is you never have to talk about it if you don’t want to. You can just have fun, without feeling like you are misunderstood if halfway through an activity you are just too tired to continue. (more…)

So I must confess, watching Dexter as often as I do is what sparked this three part blog. I liked the idea of suspense :P.. I have been thinking a lot about who I am and who I will become-all the time forgetting that the only one who can change my course of life is me. I often give agency to others-I let other people’s experiences cloud how I picture my life developing, and this is probably because I just don’t want to face my reality and I would rather know how things will work out-even if it is based on someone else’s account. But the truth (the scariest thing for me to admit by the way) is that there is still a lot I don’t know. There is still a lot I have to discover-about myself, about my MS-and all I can do is try my best to take charge of what I can and stop worrying about the rest. (more…)

Hi I am Amanda and this is (the continuation) of my blog 🙂

Now where was I? Oh yes, masking MS. I have another person to tell you about. This person too hides their disease, but is not that good at it anymore. This person in question has loved with MS for a long time and has gone through a lot of changes-and not just ms-related. This person was left without a family, who left for reasons I have not been informed of other then that they had something to do with this person’s MS. (more…)

Hi I am Amanda and this is my blog 🙂

It goes without saying that life comes with its’ hardships. I will spare you a sob story, but I do want to try to structure this blog in such a way that you can get something out of it and on a level that goes beyond simply being able to relate. So put your thinking caps on-or go to the next blog, no one is forcing you to read this right?

But in order to get to my point I want to tell you a story. (more…)