Juanita Gillespie is a Group Leader for the Roanoke Valley MS Support Groups and Distinguished Founding board member of the MSAV. Her story in her words:
In 1976 shortly after graduating as a registered nurse I was working in neuro intensive care at Roanoke Memorial Hospital. I started having unexplained symptoms, after several tests and 3 different hospital stays, I was finally diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, very disturbing and scary at the time. Needless to say, my career as a nurse was stolen from me, but when one door closes another open. I have raised one wonderful son, have 2 grandsons, 1 great grandson, 1 great granddaughter and another great granddaughter on the way. I have done lots of volunteer work with the MS support groups and the MSAV. I have a great care partner in my husband, we have done lots of traveling and several cruises, with the assistance of my husband and my scooter. I love bike riding on the Creeper Trail on my special made bike my son built for me. I have made a lot of friends over the years while working with the MS support groups and the MSAV, so the diagnosis with MS was not all bad a lot of good things have happened as well. People diagnosed today are in a better position to deal with MS because of all the different drugs available and all the information out there when I was diagnosed, we had none of the drugs and extraordinarily little information.
Jua