Shannon's Story

My 2011 Pledge Letter!

2011-01-24T12:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope the holiday season brought you happiness, hope and good health!

2010 was good to me. I thankfully remain in remission and have had no new MS attacks. Although each day presents me with new physical challenges, I feel that continuing with my Avonex treatments has kept many more significant health problems at bay. I have also started Botox injections in my right leg which has made a real difference by reducing spasticity and making walking much easier for me.

As of the New Year, I have now become an MS Activist! I will be joining a great group of other individuals, who also suffer from MS, to speak in March at the State Capitol to raise awareness to our congressmen and women in an effort to create positive changes for those who so desperately need help with this difficult disease. I have also remained active with the animal rescue, Mary's Kitty Korner, where I have now volunteered for three years.

With the advent of January, it is time again to ask for your support with my annual MS pledge letter!

The MS Kateers are determined to make 2011 a banner year. The Travelers Walk MS will take place in Simsbury on Sunday, April 10th. We set our goal last year for an unheard of amount of $13,000 and due to your generous contributions raised an amazing $15,526 dollars! We were ranked number 6 in the state and Number 1 in Simsbury for fund raising and were awarded “Best Team Spirit” for another consecutive year. I would like to thank everyone so much as you were all part of this amazing success. We are setting our sites even higher this year and are asking for your tax-free donations to help bring us closer towards a cure to this devastating disease.

So here we go again! The MS-Kateers are asking for your help and would love to have you join our team when we step out and stomp the streets of Simsbury in April to achieve this years goal of $16,000!

You can make a donation on my team page:

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/CTNWalkEvents?px=3110998&pg=personal&fr_id=16613

You can also sign up to walk with us on the team page! Thank you for your continued support!

For more information check out www.ctfightsms.org or contact me at shannon.odonnell@att.net

We Will Create a World Free of MS!

Most Sincerely,

Shannon O’Donnell

2010 Miracles Gala XXI

2011-01-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

Oh What A Night!

The Miracles XXI was Saturday, September 25th 2010 at the Connecticut Convention Center. The Mandell Center for Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Care was the beneficiary of this years Miracles Event. Paul and I were both in a video to represent this center that we both belong to.

MS Walk 2010 was a BLAST!!

2010-05-08T10:45:00.001-07:00

2010 MS Walk on April 18th!!

2010-01-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family:

I hope the holidays brought you all Health, Happiness, and Joy!! Wow, 2010...A New Decade!! Last year was filled with reconnecting with old friends, making new friends, and staying busy volunteering at the organizations I love! And with that being said, here it is: My annual MS Pledge letter!!

Thank you for your contribution to the success of Team Dixie 2009! Our team was one of the largest in CT and raised close to $8000! For the second year in a row we got voted Best Team Spirit for the Simsbury Walk site! Woo Hoo!! I intend to bring this spirit on through this New Year !!

The 2010 MS Walk is on April 18th! I am so excited. Four great teams are joining forces! My team, Team Dixie, Emily Macdonald's team, Team Em and Friends, Kelly Sterling's team, Team Kelly and Co. and the top fund raising team that I was a member of when I first Joined the Movement, Team G, Formed by Geizha Ahles! We're stepping out again in 2010, not as separate teams.

This is a group effort! Introducing,
The MS Kateers!

Every year new and better treatments are being developed due to the money raised for MS research. Despite these difficult economic times, I cannot stop my efforts to fundraise for the cure of this terrible disease. Just recently, a 17 year old girl became bedridden due to MS and an 18 year old high school football player had to stop his game due to his diagnosis...It makes me so sad to hear of these cases, but gives me all the more ammo to keep in the fight.
I ask you again, will you please donate? It is so greatly appreciated by all of us who depend on the funding that makes the continued research for a cure possible.

GO TO The MS Kateer's team page to join the MS Kateers or make a donation:

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/CTNWalkEvents?team_id=183590&pg=team&fr_id=12811 .

Keep updated on my blog page!

http://shannonsstoryms.blogspot.com/ .

Follow my Facebook Page Here:

http://www.facebook.com/#/profile.php?ref=profile&id=1036603745

e-mail me if you have any questions:
shannon.odonnell@att.net

Last but not least, I graciously invite you to become an MS Kateer and and walk with us! It is such a fun, family event! You can join our team on the link below!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/CTNWalkEvents?team_id=183590&pg=team&fr_id=12811

Friends and family, Thank YOU !!!! Your continued support is so much appreciated. WE will create a world free of MS!!

Most Sincerely,

Shannon

2009 Bike MS

2009-06-08T16:08:00.001-07:00

David Osmond at WAMS 2009. He's coming back in October!! www.ctfightsms.org

2009-06-08T15:52:00.001-07:00

2009 WAMS Luncheon

2009-06-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

David Osmond at WAMS June 5th...I can't wait!

2009-05-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

This great event will be at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale. Tickets can be purchased by going to www.ctfightsms.org

MS Walk 2009

2009-05-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

The MS Walk, that took place on April 19th was once again a success! Thank you for your contribution to Team Dixie!! I set our goal to $5000 this year, and I am pleased to announce that our total is $7442.20!! The donation deadline has been extended to June 15th, which means we may even rise above this total!! I am always in a big hurry to get my thank you's out, so if you keep checking my team page, you will see any updated totals! http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/teamdixie2009.

Thank you for your great photography: Stacey Hale, Jess Ludorf, Ali Moran, Wendy Nielsen, Mike Renzullo, Mary Root, and Ivana Walker. Thank you Paul Berg (http://www.technologyoncall.com/) for helping me get the blog started. I will also be posting our team total on this blog after the June 15th deadline!

One day, as I started fund raising for the MS Walk, I ordered Chinese. I opened up my fortune and loved what I saw, “An important person will offer you support”. My fortune rests, taped to my computer monitor. As the donations came in, and my team grew, I realized that my fortune came true! YOU are that important person! YOU are so appreciated, THANK YOU so much!

Most Sincerely,
Shannon

UPDATE: The final total raised by the 86 members of Team Dixie is $7923.45! Thank you so much everyone, for your contribution!

Shannon

Shannon's Story

2009-05-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

I share my story to help spread awareness to this devastating disease, and to give hope to my sisters and brothers living with MS…

My Story

I was just 23. It was Friday, July 24, 1999, and I was working as a bookkeeper in Hartford. After work that day, I stopped at a gas station to fill my tank. I pulled up to the gas pump and, as hard as I tried, I could not lift my right leg to push the brake. I ended up hitting the car in front of me. The driver of that car was also pumping gas. Fortunately, no injuries incurred. After giving the driver my insurance information and leaving, I dismissed the ordeal as an unlucky mishap, thinking I was just overtired. Besides, I had bigger and better things requiring my attention. I had a fun evening planned for the upcoming Saturday. Bob Dylan was performing at the Meadows, and my friend and I had tickets!!

At about 3 p.m. that Saturday I jumped in the shower. I seemed to be extremely clumsy. I kept cutting myself with the razor as I shaved my legs. I got out of the shower and soon called my mom because I was tripping and could not keep my balance. As I tried to speak, the words came out slurred. My mom came right over. At the time, I was living with my uncle and he was at work. I tried to write him a note to let him know that I was going to the emergency room but my hand was like Jell-O. I could not even squeeze the pen to write.

By the time I got to the hospital, my entire right side was completely paralyzed, including my face. I spent the night in the ER getting a spinal tap and a MRI. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to the concert! The next day the neurologist came into my hospital room. He told me I had an “acute attack of MS”. I was in a wheelchair in a rehab for weeks. There, I received physical, occupational, and speech therapy. I had cognitive problems also. I remember a therapist holding up a picture of a dog. I knew it was a dog, and the word was at the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t know how to say the word. I was put on high doses of steroids.

I was so scared. I went from being a healthy young woman with the world at her finger tips to a patient in a wheelchair, unable to do anything without assistance. I felt like I had lost my future – my birthright to health and happiness. Remember how unsafe we all felt on 9/11? That’s how I felt, trapped in my body that wouldn’t cooperate – one I no longer could control and one in which I could no longer depend.

I remember one day when my mom came to visit me at the rehab. She was putting lotion on my legs for me. As she did this, she assured me that I would be fine and she tearfully said she would give anything if she could take this on in my place. My family has suffered as much as I. In some ways I sometimes even feel more than I.

After a lengthy recovery I began to drive again. My face eventually became symmetrical again! Everything started getting better but nothing returned to 100 percent. I was left with a slight limp and my speech was somewhat halting. My doctor put me on injections to slow down the frequency of MS attacks. And despite not feeling 100 percent, I was feeling so much better!

In 2001 I was very happy to land a job at an insurance company. I liked the job and my co-workers. But then, after time, my MRI’s came back abnormal again. I was totally exhausted by the time I got to work and I could rarely complete my eight-hour workday. I tried parking in handicapped to save energy by not having to walk so far. It didn’t help. I was clumsy, falling and losing my balance, once again. I tried using a cane. My work week was reduced from 40, to 35 and eventually 15 hours. My health just kept getting worse. Overwhelming fatigue, a common symptom of MS, now ruled my life. I had very little stamina. I had to make two of the most difficult decisions of my life. I stopped driving and I resigned from the job I loved.

I experienced incredible loss and consequently descended into a depression (it did not help that depression is also an effect resulting from MS). I went to therapy to get help. I would cry in my therapist’s office on a regular basis, feeling very powerless and very much alone. One day my therapist said something that really clicked with me. Her words helped change my attitude. She said “ Each day holds something for which to be happy and something for which to be grateful – even if it is the sun shining or a smile directed your way.” She told me that my job was to get up every day and actively look for those things for which I should be grateful and happy.

That is exactly what I did. I started going to seminars held by the National MS Society to get more informed about MS (knowledge is power!). I began taking my injections as prescribed. I began using my time to help my friends and family at every opportunity. I began volunteering at a nearby animal shelter. I began attending MS support group meetings. And I began volunteering weekly at the National MS Society, Connecticut Chapter.

Today, I am the captain of a MS walk team known as Team Dixie. I left the sidelines and ditched the self pity to become actively involved in the fight to find a cure for my disease – raising funds and awareness by sharing my story. Incredibly, by getting involved I am now more fulfilled and empowered in a way I didn’t think possible. Most importantly, I am the captain of my life . . . MS, unfortunately, will remain the co-captain until a cure is found.

However, I do believe a cure will be found. It is not a matter of if, but when. The work of the National MS Society gives me great confidence that this will happen sooner than later and science says we are closing in on a cure. In fact, we could be in the homestretch. This gives me more incentive to stay in the fight, support the cause and urge others, like you, to engage in the quest to create a world free of multiple sclerosis.

Shannon O’Donnell