032 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT MEET PAIGE
My mom has never allowed me to say I can’t do something and has never al- lowed me to give up. The day she was diagnosed with MS, she had to learn to listen to her own advice. I don’t re- member a day where my mom wasn’t busy doing something. Everyone knew how much of an active lifestyle she lived, and the energy she project- ed into the world! My mom was the fun mom, the one who took everyone outside to play kickball or all the girls to the mall for the day. It never both- ered me that I never knew my dad be- cause my mom was my hero and the only role model I needed for a parent. But, the day the doctor confirmed that she had MS, everything changed for her and most importantly, me.
My mom was supposed to be strong and I was supposed to be weak and have her shoulder to cry on as I grew up and my heart broke. But at 15, I had to hold my mom’s head up and boost her spirits on a daily basis. Things were no longer the same for
SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT, PAIGE OF SPARTANBURG, SC
2013 NATIONAL MS SOCIETY
her mentally and physically – she had been getting progressively worse for a year. Cleaning the house, putting up holiday decorations, cooking dinner and walking the dog soon became my responsibility on top of my school- work and classical voice studies.
My academics began to suffer and I had to give up voice studies my sophomore year to concentrate on my Mom and my grades. That same year, my mom was put onto Copaxone, a daily shot, which was not an easy thing for my mom to give herself. For the first few months, my mom would begin to cry every time I would wipe her arm off with the alcohol wipe as I prepared to give her the shot. Her
CARE E-MAGAZINE: SPRING 2013
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