County women walk to raise awareness, funds for MS

Lisa Martin and Kati Townsley, both Carroll County residents, will be participating in Walk MS in Westminster April 19. The event is one of many designed and organized by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to raise funds and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis research, in the hopes of one day finding a cure for the disease. The two women, who met in October 2014 while serving on the leadership committee for the walk, are united by a common battle: they are both fighting Multiple Sclerosis. But while their diagnoses are the same, their individual journeys with the disease have been unique.

Martin, 24, of Manchester, said her first symptoms of MS began in 2009 with sensations of tingling and numbness, and eventually, loss of vision in her left eye, which later returned. She went to the doctor and expressed concerns that it may be MS, a disease she was familiar with because her aunt had been diagnosed with the chronic disease in the early 1990s.

But her doctor thought it was more likely that she had Lyme disease and treated her with antibiotics, Martin said. Her symptoms did improve somewhat, but she never regained full health.

Townsley, 37, of Westminster, said the tingling sensations she felt began in 2008. She said the feeling started in her fingers, which led her to wonder if she had carpal tunnel. But very soon, the symptoms progressed, and she knew something more serious was involved.

"In the next seven to 10 days, I had lost all sensation, use and mobility on the right side of my body," Townsley said. "I knew I was in trouble."

In Townsley's case, the MS was progressing very quickly, and she received her diagnosis in less than two weeks. She started a steroid treatment the day after diagnosis. She said she is grateful that she and her doctors were able to get the disease under control.

In Martin's case, the road to a diagnosis was much more lengthy. Her symptoms didn't flare up again until May 2012.

"I woke up one morning and the entire left side of my body was pins and needles," she said. "At that point, I returned to the doctor and was really adamant about pursuing [testing for MS], and pretty much demanded that the doctor send me in for an MRI."

Her doctor ordered the MRI, and the resulting image showed several lesions on her brain. Her doctor ordered more testing before confirming that Martin's suspicions had been true.

"In order to get an MS diagnosis, they really have to rule out pretty much everything else, so it was about two months of a constant battery of testing and bloodwork and speaking with a neurologist until I actually received the official MS diagnosis," she said.

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County women walk to raise awareness, funds for MS