Geoff McLennan will try to avoid stepping in a rabbit hole during Sunday's MS Walk at Rocky Point Park in Port Moody. But even though he's raising money for multiple sclerosis research, a disease he's had for a decade, he avoids the metaphorical "rabbit hole" of keeping tabs on the testing.
"I try not pay too much attention with the research. When I first was diagnosed, friends and relatives would email me constantly what was going on," says McLennan, who as of Thursday had raised the most money (about $4,000) of participants registered for Sunday's event.
He believes he's better off to not go down what he calls a "rabbit hole" by tracking experimental treatments and potential cures. The confusion and complexity caused by wading through the information is too overwhelming.
"I do believe the science gets better and better, but mentally a big part of coping with the disease is that my mental state is taken care of," says McLennan, 37.
It's been confusing from the start. When the New Westminster real estate agent first lost feeling in his left arm the doctors thought it was a pinched nerve. So did he. His girlfriend at the time, now his wife, Rachel, wasn't buying that diagnosis, though. A second doctor said it was stress. No sale on that one either. "That's ridiculous," said Rachel, who encouraged him to go to UBC Hospital's MS Clinic – Centre for Brain Health.
They did a CT scan which was "kind of scary." It revealed a shadow that was thought might be brain cancer. But an MRI and spinal tap showed it was MS. Still scary, but not as much.
MS is an autoimmune disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord. It's unpredictable and can cause many symptoms including lack of coordination, extreme fatigue and vision and bladder problems. Canada has one of the highest MS rates in the world with an estimated 1 in 340 living with the disease.
McLennan's symptoms include fatigue, numbness in his feet and arms, and tightness around his stomach, as if he's wearing a shirt that's two sizes too small.
"It comes and goes. One of the hardest things actually for me has been finding a treatment that works for me. I have bad reactions to most of the medication I've been on. So I'm in the process now of finding what the next medication would be," says McLennan.
One made him feel like he had the flu all the time. He thought it was the MS. But then he went on vacation and forgot to take the medication, which required an injection, with him and felt much better. A second was experimental and made him sweat a lot, get flushed and overheated, and his face turn bright red. A third doesn't have any side effects, but it's not working either because the MRIs reveal there's more lesions on his brain and spinal cord. So he's in the process of tapering himself of that one before going to something new.
"I try not to worry about it too much because the drugs keep getting better," says McLennan pointing out at least the more recent ones don't involve injections.
"The doctors at UBC and the MS Society have been really great to me, so it's nice to do something positive to give something back. I'm pretty lucky, too … I'm able to work. I don't have any control over the disease but I can control what I do about it."
Although he's frequently fatigued, he's done with fretting about his health. "I did my worrying before I had kids," says McLennan.
He went to see a genetic counsellor and had in-depth conversations with several medical experts and consensus amongst the doctors was they didn't think it was something he shouldn't pursue. Now he and Rachel have a five-year-old son, and a year-old daughter.
McLennan's goal for Sunday is $7,000. He fetched close to $6,000 in his first try last year.
As of Thursday, more than $32,000 had been raised for the TriCities walk with a goal of $40,000. So far 29 teams – the top team fund raiser is MS Lessionaries with almost $4,400 – and 182 walkers have been registered for the two- and five-kilometre walks. A wheelchair accessible route is also available. Check-in time is 9 a.m., with the walk starting at 10:30. More information is available online at mswalks.ca.
