Tag: ms awareness

podcasting with ra cook & ms doc brandon beaber

Multiple sclerosis challenges ranging from misdiagnoses and obtaining work accommodations, to advocating for chronic illness causes and writing from the patient perspective were chief among the many issues I recently discussed with two podcasters.

Southern California’s Dr. Brandon Beaber, a neurologist specializing in multiple sclerosis, chatted with me recently for his podcast about my new book, Uncomfortably Numb 2: An Anthology for Newly-Diagnosed MS Patients, touching on topics like when or whether to tell people you have MS and what lessons I’ve learned since I was diagnosed in 2014. Spoiler alert: There’ve been a lot of them.

Meanwhile, podcaster RA Cook, a fellow author and western Massachusetts native, hosted me as a guest on her podcast, Well Done You. Our wide-ranging conversation addressed topics like writing and teaching journalism at the university level, to being a multiple sclerosis patient and advocating for issues facing those living with chronic illnesses.

I was honored to be a part of both of their podcasts.

Be sure to follow Dr. Beaber’s podcasts here and RA Cook’s podcasts here.

uncomfortably numb 2: ‘amazing resource’

MS Activist and Influencer Jodi Dwyer said the new multiple sclerosis anthology Uncomfortably Numb 2 would’ve been “an amazing resource” had she had it in her hands when she was first diagnosed.

That was the goal of this sequel to my MS memoir. It was to create a guide that I wish I’d had when I received my own diagnosis in 2014. Comprised of stories from patients with varying stages of MS, Uncomfortably Numb 2 includes stories from a woman who was diagnosed as a teen and a neurologist who treats adult and pediatric MS patients.