I'm happy that the kids get a chance to come here and have fun and learn
something and be around other kids who are experiencing the same things they are
experiencing. I know when I first was diagnosed with MS, it was very important
for me to talk to other people that had MS, who could teach me the ropes, so to
speak, even though I know it is different for everybody. Since the symptoms are
different for everybody with MS, it's different for every kid who has a parent or
loved one with MS. I wanted the students to understand that MS is, I likened it to
"bad wiring", so try to take the personality out of it and just try to teach
them that it's a signal that gets interrupted for one reason or another.
My name is Molly and this is my fourth year at the MS Kids Camp. I like to
volunteer because my dad has had MS for almost thirty years now and it would have
been useful for me to go through an experience like this to learn more about
the disease itself and what my dad would be experiencing so I could be more
understanding and sympathetic to him. My kids are learning about dizziness and
vertigo here at this station. Most people with MS experience some sort of
dizziness or vertigo so we've had the kids come up, spin in place to experience the
dizziness, and then stand on this foam pad. They also try to balance on this
balancing board. We're trying to make sure that the kids recognize that their
parent could experience a symptom like this and appreciate that and understand
what their parent might be going through when they experience that.
I liked it because the other kids here are very similar to me. They either have a
mom or dad or loved ones that have MS and I could talk to them because they
know what I'm going through. It's just nice to have some folks, that's something you
have in common.
It helped me understand like what my mom, like what's actually happening
inside of her, not just how she's feeling.
You got to see what your parents were seeing when they had that symptom.
I would hope that once the kids leave camp that number one they will
understand more about what the disease really is, but I also hope they walk away
with some tools to help sit down with mom and dad to talk about what they've
learned, what some of their feelings are, and that they are empowered to be able to
understand how they can help better.
And I think that that's the thing that keeps me coming back, is that I know that there
is an eight year old out there that's gonna come next year that's gonna want to hear
this and feel like "Ok, now I feel ok about what my parents are going through, now I
feel that I can talk to my mom or my dad about MS."