Many moons ago, well when I was a kid obviously, I remember my mom and us loading up to head to Victoria because my aunt was sick. Before I go into details you probably should have some background.

When I was younger, there wasn’t much family on my mom’s side. I had my pops, my grandma (and sometimes her boyfriends), my Uncle Boot, my Uncle Trey and his family and tons of others but they live further away. So when it came to birthday parties, it was just us. And hey, that’s life, so I never really learned or knew much about the rest of my family. Speed up to today, I have every one of my aunts on my mom’s side on Facebook with me. I have an aunt in Indiana with her family, an uncle in Indiana with his family, and lastly there is my aunt in Edna with her family. Edna is about an hour and a half from where I live, not too shabby of a drive. Somehow I’ve never managed to just go and see her or the family though.

Not the point, there’s a long family tree, too much for this post to get into depth with. We’d be here all day.

Back when I was a young child, I remember my mom loading us up and heading to Victoria, my aunt was in the hospital and she didn’t know much. (Fact of the matter, I’m sure she knew but we were too young to understand). After some time of going up to the hospital to visit, early morning drives to and from, I eventually hear someone talking about MS.

I had no idea what that even meant, only that it was something my aunt would have to live with. That it could take her away from her family. That she’d have to start a different lifestyle if she wanted to live a longer life.

What is MS? MS is short for multiple sclerosis. It’s disease that you have to live with for the rest of your life. It can affect every important part of your body, from your brain to the nerves in your eyes. Depending on the severity, it can take your life by storm. It can affect your everyday functions, from walking to not being able to see clearly. It’s a scary disease that unfortunately there has been no cure for.

It is said that there are medications that you can take to help with some of the symptoms, that there are ways to control them, but ultimately once you have it, it’s there for life.

Why am I even going on about this life lesson in MS? Well, I’ve decided that this year I would do a Mud Run. I’ve never done one, but always wanted to. Of course, I want to do one that has meaning. As I looked online, I found one that I felt tug at me. Muckfest MS Houston 5K Mud Obstacle Run. So yesterday, I started my new workout regimen to at least begin getting in shape. I’ve cut out sodas, etc. But I don’t want to do it alone. I want to raise awareness for MS. I want to raise money for MS. Ultimately, I want to make a difference, not just for my aunt, but for everyone out there that is forced to struggle with this disease. For every family member that has to take care of their loved ones. I want to do more than just talk about it on a blog. So if you could find it in your body capacity, join me in this fun and amazing 5k! Calm down though, it isn’t until October (plenty of training time) and if I can find enough people we can even do group rates. It’s a fun obstacle course and after get to drink beer and hang with everyone!

For more information visit: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HOM_MUCK_MuckFest_info_houston

Thank you again!

If you have any questions you can always find me on social media or via email at smloya@live.com 🙂