Small Steps, Giant Leaps, & Moving Forward
Movement is the song of the body. Running for the sheer joy of it, childlike, wind whipping past your ears. Dancing. Playing with your kids. We take moving for granted — until we can’t move.
Our OR ACC, Judith Verhey, chooses to define her life by what she can do, not what she can’t. Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2014, Judith has shown that the degree of disability depends on the degree that your community allows it.
Always an active, athletic person, Judith was playing on three competitive soccer teams. One fateful day brought two major impacts: a brutal soccer-related concussion, and an MRI at Queensway Carleton Hospital that showed lesions distinctive to Multiple Sclerosis.
She was immediately put on blocker medication to inhibit further relapses — a year earlier than she otherwise would have been.
“It was kind of a blessing in disguise that this happened, and I believe everything happens for a reason.”
MS is a condition where the immune system attacks myelin sheathing, a substance that insulates nerve fibers, in the brain and spinal cord. Eventually, the disease can cause permanent damage or deterioration of the nerves. Some people with severe MS may lose the ability to walk independently or at all.
“This diagnosis was a hit for me,” Judith admits.
“I didn’t believe it. I played soccer for another two years after I was diagnosed because I didn’t have any mobility issues.”
Most patients, Judith included, initially have the relapsing-remitting form of MS: “I will have a relapse and then very slowly build back — never 100% to where I was, but I may be up to 90%,” Judith explains. “But I’ll never be back to normal.”
In the wake of her diagnosis, life happened. A long-term relationship ended, a move occurred, and a loved one was tragically lost, all within one summer. This caused a lot of stress, unhealthy for anyone but worse for MS patients, as it can trigger a relapse. And Judith’s relapse took her from the soccer field and put her in a wheelchair.
“This was pretty devastating for me,” says Judith.
“I managed to get through it with the support of my family, my neurologist, and my physiotherapist at Liquid Gym. They were crucial in terms of getting my muscles back and allowing me to continue working here at the hospital.”
She is also immensely grateful to and a huge spokesperson for a special mobility tricycle called the Alinker, which allows otherwise wheelchair-bound people to engage their muscles and build towards greater strength as their conditions decline. By fate or destiny, it was invented the same year she was diagnosed.
“When I have my next relapse, I may go down to 60%,” says Judith. “But the more I use my muscles now, the better shape I’ll be in. I can go shopping with my friends, I can play with my two little grandkids. It’s been life-changing for me.”
Though a relapse ended her time in Emerge, she continues to work in patient registration due to the superb accommodation and kindness of staff and coworkers.
Judith has touched countless lives with her positive outlook and intense advocacy for Liquid Gym, the Alinker, and disability awareness. She moves her body with grace, passion, and gratitude. She lives in the sun, not under the shadow of her condition.
Endlessly optimistic and determined, Judith promises, “I am not gonna let this beat me, that’s for sure.”