Photo courtesy Jess Faulds
Day 17 of 31
This is the story of Jess Faulds:
My name is Jess and I am a 28 year old female from Alberta, Canada. Ask anyone who knows me and the two things in life that I care about most are food and fitness.
Food has always been my passion, but it took a while for fitness to become one.
Growing up, I always talked about my love for food. I even did a school project to plan my future restaurant! Then at 15 my world changed. I woke up one morning with double vision and one eye that was frozen in place. I was diagnosed with MS within three months.
I started treatment right away and ignored my diagnosis for about three years. I went to university to get a degree in health sciences. There my love for food turned into a love for nutrition. I was looking for a way to regain control of a disease that could take everything away from me.
I devoted my studies and my life to various diets (keto, Wahls, vegan, etc.) and fitness. I wanted to know everything I could about how nutrition could heal my body.
With the power of food and nutrition, I saw my recovery time shift from six months to two weeks. But I didn’t know the biggest test was yet to come.
While I believe in food, nutrition, and fitness, I also believe in science and treatments. Eighteen months ago I had a stem cell transplant. HSCT, as it is called, consisted of 11 rounds of chemotherapy in eight days. My doctors told me to prepare for the battle of my life – that I would be sick for up to a year to recover – but nothing else had worked.
I have prepared. I ran more. I have eaten well. I literally boxed myself until the first day of treatment.
The treatment was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But when all was said and done, I was back in the gym three weeks later. I was back to work six weeks later and the doctors said I broke downtime records with my recovery.
Healthy eating and fitness saved my life. Now I help others with their food and fitness trips. With better food and better fitness, we can create a strong base so that we can embrace anything!
Multiple Sclerosis News Today’s 31 Day MS Campaign will publish one story per day for Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month in March. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more stories like this one with the hashtag # 31DaysofMS, or watch the full series here.
