Well, I spend a lot of time as an advocate for people with Multiple Sclerosis. I call patients all over the country who have requested to speak with someone else who is living with this entertaining disease that I have been having a great time (O'Really would be using strike-through text here) with since I was 19. I connect with people who are angry, frightened, confused or generally freaked out about their diagnosis, how it may affect their careers, family plans, financial situation -- and how they can explain it to friends and loved ones who cannot understand symptoms that may be invisible.

I also refer patients to organizations that maybe able to help with the cost of medicines, with obtaining things like personal cooling products -- and with the more serious stuff that not everyone with MS ends up needing, such as grab bars and other safety products that make life easier. Sometimes I don't talk so much. I listen.

I tell my peer support contact that MS is not a death sentence, that it is mostly a pain in the butt -- more at some times than others.

If you are donating money, finding a cure for multiple sclerosis would be a good cause. And I could REALLY use a new roof and some better windows. I keep the heat down to 62 and wear my coat in the house a lot in the winter, but I am still better off than most people on the planet!