EatSmart fans will select each Charity of the Month in 2012. Fans will submit short stories about the charity’s mission and why it’s meaningful to them. We began our Charity of the Month donations in 2011.
For February 2012, loyal EatSmart Fan, Elizabeth selected the National MS Society. We will be donating 50 cents for every new Google+ Follow during the month of February. (So spread the word!)
Read why Elizabeth picked the National MS Society:
I have a pretty little vision of what my life should be. I have the distinct privilege of staying home with my kids all day! I have a great husband, three kids, a dog, a house…everything should be perfect. Things don’t tend to go according to plan—at least not MY plan!
What began as a blip on my radar two years ago became a turning point in my life this past August. You see, one morning in July I had woken up with a blind spot in my left eye. A blind spot that wouldn’t go away. A blind spot that wasn’t just annoying eye crud, it was a problem. It wasn’t the first time I’d had an ocular issue, either. Almost 2 years prior I’d had a 4-month span of constant double vision. In August I visited my ophthalmologist, who gave me exactly the news I was expecting but dreading. She referred me to my neurologist, who confirmed the same–I have Multiple Sclerosis. It’s chronic, it’s debilitating, it’s scary, and there is no cure.
No cure. No reason. No explanation. No rhyme or reason. MS picks and chooses it’s victims at random. Me? I’m a (relatively) healthy 30-something. I’m mom to three kids, ages 6, 4, and almost 2. I’m busy. I don’t have time for something like this! I wonder, some days, why MS picked me!
When you see me on the street, in the store, at Zumba class, you won’t know there’s anything “wrong” with me. Even if you see me regularly and know my story, you probably “forget” most of the time that there’s an issue. I wish I could forget. I can walk. I can talk. I am in control of my own body. I look “normal.” I AM normal. I’m a normal person that takes ibuprofen every night before bed to reduce her legs ache so that she can sleep. I’m a normal person that wakes up every morning and wonders if today will be the day she has a relapse. I’m a normal person that forgets things. I’m a normal person that says her words out of order sometimes (much to the amusement of her children) and sometimes says them with a slur. I’m a normal person who can’t always see very well and pretends otherwise. I’m a normal person that wakes up almost as tired as she goes to bed every day.
Someday I may have trouble doing simple daily tasks. For now, though, I am doing what I can to take care of myself, to make myself as healthy as possible, so that hopefully I can hold off any progression a few more years. Perhaps, if I try hard enough, I can hold off progression until there IS a cure! I eat a healthy, mostly a whole foods diet now, and I LOVE it! I monitor how much I’m eating as well, and that’s much easier thanks to the EatSmart Precision Retro Kitchen Scale! Not only do I feel healthier, but I’ve lost almost 50 pounds! I exercise almost daily now. I didn’t before. Some days I don’t want to, but I remind myself that I have a family that needs a healthy mama!
The National MS Society is working toward a cure. They’re working to find the cause and figure out a way to stop Multiple Sclerosis…for me. For you. For your best friend, your neighbor, your babysitter. For the people you pass every day, the people that look “normal,” but who woke up this morning, as I did, wondering if today would be “the day.” In the meantime, the National MS Society is providing support and help to the thousands of affected MS patients and their families!
EatSmart Products has decided that, for the month of February, they will donate 50 cents to the National MS Society for EVERY new EatSmart Google+ follower! Simply by following EatSmart, you could be helping to fund a cure for MS!
Some of you have MS yourselves. Some of you know someone who does. Some of you are very giving. Whatever the reason, some of you will want to know how you can help find a cure! One way you can help is by supporting WalkMS 2012! This event raises funds for the National MS Society’s research efforts! If you know someone walking, support them, either through walking alongside them or donating to their team! If you don’t know anyone walking, please consider making a one-time donation to my team, MS. Understood, through this link!
This month, by supporting EatSmart, you’re supporting the National MS Society. You’re supporting people like me, who hope one day to be able to say, “I had MS.” You’re supporting the future! Thank you!
Elizabeth
Elizabeth can be found blogging at My This N That Life and on Twitter @mythisnthatlife.
If interested in submitting a charity for consideration, please email karen@eatsmartproducts.com. The donation amount will be capped at 500 followers.