Back to Erin's Main Page
Erin Morrow
Nashville, TN
The Betaseron® Champions of Courage (BCC) program recently awarded a grant to Erin Morrow, 24, of Nashville, TN, to develop a guidebook for young women with multiple sclerosis (MS). “Fighting MS with My Friends: A Girlfriend’s Guide to MS” will feature first-person accounts from women in Morrow’s MS support group, humorous anecdotes, recipes, tips from medical professionals and other resources to help young women face the many challenges of living with MS. Morrow expects copies of the book to be available through Tennessee MS clinics, support groups and chapters of the National MS Society by late 2006.
Diagnosed in 1999 as a freshman in college, Morrow’s first symptoms were numbness in her fingers and vision problems. Despite her disease, she was able to graduate from Appalachian State College in North Carolina on time, an accomplishment for which she credits family support, understanding from her professors and counselors, and top-quality medical care. When she graduated in 2002 and moved back to her hometown of Nashville, she felt it was important to connect with other young people with MS. She discovered there were no support groups for young women, so she formed her own. Through this circle of friends, Morrow discovered newfound strength, community, and the inspiration to write a book.
“My goal for this project is to create a real-life book with facts, stories of how my friends and I have dealt with having MS in our 20’s and 30’s, and tidbits to get people laughing and constructively on their way to living a healthy life with this disease,” says Morrow. “Having MS has affected my life in many ways. I have had to become more realistic about what my body needs versus what I want. I have also begun to rebuild a foundation of trust in myself. MS has made me reach inside myself for answers that I never knew were there.”
- Updated
