Strathmore A&W helps support MS in a hands on way

Times Reporter

 

A&W is a strong supporter of the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society, and this year the Strathmore A&W found a way to help someone local that is in need. 

Debra Grouwstra has been fighting MS for the last three years, and when Will Whatley, the manager of Strathmore A&W, heard about Grouwstra from one of his former supervisors he knew he had to help. Whatley had been told about how Grouwstra had to spend all of last summer confined to her house because she was unable to make it up and down the stairs.

“She was looking for funds to build a ramp so I figured we’d tie it together. Half the funds will go to the MS Society and the other half will go to rebuilding the front of her house so that she has an access ramp to be able to get in and out of her house,” said Whatley.

Grouwstra is happy to know the ramp will be there for her, but is more excited that it will be there for her landlady’s future residents as well. She said her landlady helps senior women who need a place to go before heading to other nursing homes. 

Grouwstra was first diagnosed with MS in 2009, and it is something she has battled with every day.

“I suddenly had a violent attack in my head and literally could not walk, I literally just dropped and had a massive attack and bed-ridden and thought, my goodness I have a bad flu, this is pretty bad,” said Grouwstra.

The flu didn’t go away. She said she first struggled to get out of bed and walk, and would have to crawl to the washroom, occasionally crawling a bit further when no one was around. Grouwstra would use the wall and doorknobs to pull herself up and help herself stand and take a few steps. She said her dogs and her cat bugged her enough to keep fighting, they wouldn’t leave her alone. 

“They knew there was something drastically wrong and they enticed me to keep going, bothering me very much. Of course other people were rooting for me too, we thought, oh this is going to go away, so I would just start walking,” said Grouwstra.

“I would keep striding for my strength until I could get outdoors, and then I would have people set up so benches for me so I could walk farther and sit down. I noticed something strange about my life at that time, when I got into the hot sun I paralyzed and I could not understand that, and I could not understand the pain I got in my spine, in my hand…it was excruciating pain…especially being in the heat and the sun, so I began to just go out in the early mornings and the evenings to enjoy the outdoors.”

She said eventually she acquired a walker and was able to make it to the stable. Prior to this she had been a rancher and a horsewoman training therapeutic horses, which was her life’s work. 

“It was an enjoyable life’s work to always be training horses and always with a goal that it helped someone, that horses are our helpers,” said Grouwstra.

In the few years since Grouwstra was diagnosed, she has found coping mechanisms such as having a strong support system, but has found every stage of MS to be difficult. 

“The pain is difficult, neuropathic pain is very difficult, and what I have found is every stage of MS emotionally and mentally traumatizes everything you do,” said Grouwstra.

“When you start to lose function it traumatizes you, so you have to have a spirit to overcome the trauma of every stage of MS. It takes a great deal of love in your life from people around you so that you can gain that (energy) to overcome trauma, and have a positive mind…to overcome that trauma so you don’t let it win. 

“There is a side to MS that’s very lonely, you can lose a partner in life when you’re diagnosed with MS and that is extremely painful and extremely difficult. If a single person comes down with MS other people might not want to reach out to you and become your partner because MS, through the attacks of MS, you spiral downwards from being ambulatory can go all the way down to quadriplegic conditions.”

Grouwstra said sometimes people will get angry as a way of coping, and that can sometimes lead to victimization of the person suffering from MS. The number one thing that Grouwstra feels a person with MS needs is love. She feels a strong loving support system can help make the days a little easier for someone trying to fight MS.