It is strange to consider that life is so short, when viewed in the context of all the unexpected events that occur around you. I've recently discovered a co-worker I like very much has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He's a young, athletic, and healthy man over 30 with two children, a good job, and a wife. (I've spent some time with both of them volunteering in Costa Mesa.) You would never know to look at him, but he had an attack of the central nervous system and it appears that the doctor diagnosed his health in order that he could come back to work full-time. However, he probably has the following diagnosis, which means it can come back at any time, even if it isn't audacious enough to show symptoms right now. (All the other possible MS diagnoses are worse than the below.)
Relapsing-Remitting MS
People with this type of MS experience clearly defined attacks of worsening neurologic function. These attacks—which are called relapses, flare-ups, or exacerbations —are followed by partial or complete recovery periods (remissions), during which no disease progression occurs. Approximately 85% of people are initially diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS.
Why does this happen? Could be genetic. Could be linked to lots of things. According to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, this is thought to be an autoimmune disease. Our body's own immune system attacks the tissue surrounding the nerve fibers in the central nervous system. This myelin attacked forms scar tissue (sclerosis), which distorts nerve impulses traveling to/from the brain. Apparently, this forms several different symptions. In the case of my friend, he went blind in one of his eyes. Fortunately, his eye restored 90-95% of its sight in the last month, and he has come back to work another 40-hour work week, as before. It is odd to think how the symptoms vary so dramatically for those diagnosed. Apparently, MS is diagnosed, as in other autoimmune diseases, significantly more often(at least 2-3 times) in women than men. The body's "abnormal" response, to attack our central nervous system doesn't even have a specific reason! At least epidimiologists and researchers haven't discovered it yet.
Why? Oh, why. It isn't just my friend. It is over 2 million people in the world diagnosed with this disease alone, and besides disease, there are so many other things in this world that are just unjust. Why does this happen to a good man? Why does this happen to any of us? I've started to follow blogs in Saudi Arabia, lately, in a recent discovery in my ongoing obsession about the international opression of peoples, especially women. These men and women are speaking up about how they feel about the dress standards, the options for democracy, cultural standards, religion and how it applies to the politics. Reading about it (and I've only just begun) opens my eyes to what the world is really like. And makes me wonder just how selfish we really are (and probably unaware, as well)..because we are so concerned with our own insignificant lives. Not to say that each individual isn't truly significant in her own way, but that in the scope of things, all are significant as a whole, and we can be significant if we care enough to do what we can as an individual for the whole. Even being aware, makes us less unaware, right? And not so oblivious and naive. At least - this is where I'm going to start.
Saudi Blogs:
http://saudistepfordwife.blogspot.com/
http://saudijeans.org/
Multiple Sclerosis: http://cas.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=CAS_donate_homepage
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