Take a look at Hailli Hewitt.
She looks like your typical 23-year-old, right?
And yes, she is, for the most part, except for one thing – she has multiple sclerosis (MS).
Hailli was diagnosed with remitting relapsing multiple sclerosis back in 2011.
With her particular type, Hailli doesn’t know where or when she could have an attack.
That doesn’t stop this young woman from living her life to the fullest, enjoying every single day to the max.
It was back in 2010 that the early signs of MS became apparent.
Hailli recalled being at Cohobblopot enjoying the night with her friends. She was wearing contacts – not unusual for her – but that night somehow was different.
“I felt like I had wax paper over my eyes. I just couldn’t see properly. I didn’t think much of it at the time since I thought it was the contacts.”
Her blurred vision continued the next day and concerned, she decided she would go to her opthalmologist.
Her doctor said while there was nothing wrong with the eye itself, she was concerned about her optic nerve.
With that, Hailli went for magnetic resonance imaging, an MRI scan. However, braces on her teeth at the time proved a problem in getting an MRI scan.
Hailli didn’t have the MRI and wasn’t too worried at the time since her blurred vision had cleared up somewhat. Still, she admits there was a niggling feeling that all might not be well.
“In 2011, I had this strange feeling and I wanted to have the MRI”, she recalled.
Hailli decided to take her braces off well before the appointed time.
The MRI showed some lesions on her brain.
Then, the battery of tests started.
“I had to go through a lot of tests but I wanted to know what was going on. I wasn’t scared, I just wanted to know,” she told EASY.
The last test Hailli had was the lumbar puncture, a medical procedure where a needle is inserted into the lower part of the spine in order to look for evidence of conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord or other parts of the nervous system.
It was this test that proved positive for MS.
She admitted that at the time she didn’t know what the condition was.
Although she wasn’t scared, she was concerned about how it would affect her.
“After being diagnosed, I had to make some changes.”
One of the biggest changes was having to inject herself every day – in the stomach, legs or arms (if someone is assisting her).
Hailli also acknowledged that “MS comes with being very tired. Fatigue is one of the side effects,” she said, noting that flu-like symptoms were another.
She’s also supposed to be paying more attention to her diet, but laughs, admitting “it’s a process”. Eating more raw foods and fruit and less dairy is important.
During the initial stages of her diagnosis, Hailli withdrew from some of her friends. At the time, only a select few were told of her illness.
“How do you explain to people something is wrong but you can’t show them what is wrong. It’s nothing you can see, like a cut or bruise,” she said.
It wasn’t until 2012 that Hailli actually started researching MS.
“It was a process to get it in my head that I was sick and I have MS. When you google MS, you see people in wheelchairs and sad stories. You don’t really see the positive stories . . . not until you dig deeper,” she said.
It was while doing that research that she had her second attack.
This time her right eye was affected. She lost 70 to 80 per cent vision in that eye.
Hailli had to be hospitalized for about a week, even though she regained her sight a few days after the attack.
“That was very scary. It was the first official attack,” she said.
Ever since then, and to this day, a daily morning ritual for this young woman is to check her eyes. This she does by placing a hand over each eye, one at a time, to make sure she has 20/20 vision. To date, she has.
Hailli admits that her studies at the University of the West Indies suffered due to her illness.
The daily juggle of work, school and health has been challenging, especially knowing that stress can cause attacks.
Living a stress-free life, therefore, is her goal.
Hailli also notes the support she gets from her family, especially her grandparents Ann and Ken Hewitt and her father Kenny.
“They were very supportive. It affected them more than it affected me. I think they took it harder than I did,” she reflected with a warm smile.
“Support is key to managing stress. My friends are also there for me,” she said.
For Hailli, the hardest part of being diagnosed was explaining what MS is. That’s one of the reasons she, with the help of others, started the MS In Barbados Facebook page back in July.
“We wanted to create awareness about what it is because a lot of people don’t know much about it. Facebook is a start because so many people are on [it],” she said.
Hailli said she was overwhelmed by the amount of support she received on Facebook when she told her story about being diagnosed with MS. She has since met others with MS, especially attending the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Barbados which meets every second Wednesday at the Gymnasium of the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Wildey.
Hailli says today, she is even more confident about her future.
“Having MS has never scared me. You think ‘what if’ but no matter what, you live.”
For Hailli, each day is a new start.
“Once I wake up and I can move, I am okay.”
