Staying In The Race

Using humor and her amazing gift of story-telling, Sue Thomas takes the reader into her world, a world of silence now compounded by the elusive symptoms of MS. Sue has always faced the odds. Profoundly deaf from infancy Sue credits her mother's determination to make her as normal as possible.Years of speech therapy made her a master lip-reader and landed her a job with the FBI. She also knew the disciplines of becoming a champion skater. Now her body is betraying her with mysterious symptoms. Sue uses the analogy of a marathon runner to illustrate her journey with an incurable and debilitating disease. She chronicles the early symptoms, and the emotional battles with the MS Beast. Her fighting spirit witll not accept defeat and she continies to pursue a life that would be exhausting to any well person. She continues a rigorous speaking agenda, stars in her own TV series, becomes an ambassador for the MS Society, and begins a training program with Service Dogs for people who are physically challenged. There are times when the MS Beast seems to have her in its clutches as she loses her sight, the abiity to walk on her own two feet, and loses control of the simplest body functions. Sue knows she could never make the journey alone. She finds encouragement in the lives that come along her side; her nurse, her service dogs, and many other who face each day with physical challenges. Most of all, she credits God who walks along her side to cheer her on, walks before her to pave the way and walks behind her the entire journey in case she needs a swift kick to keep going. Sue knows that her greatest acomplishment in life is simply staying in the race.