0:00  
My name is Florence RuBharani and I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

0:14  
I was diagnosed on May 23, 2013. I was 23 years old. A couple months prior to getting diagnosed, I remember I remember I was experiencing certain symptoms and it was very out of the ordinary. And I don't know, I was just very confused, very worried. I started researching it online and seeing the different diagnosis that would pop up. So I decided to contact my doctor to get some testing done and I remember a couple weeks later, I got a call from the doctor's office.

1:09  
When I went to the doctor's office, I didn't tell my family members about why I was going because I didn't want them to freak out on something that potentially could be nothing. But inside I did feel like there was something wrong and I knew that the news would not be good. And I ended up going to the doctor's with a friend. I remember going there and the doctor said it's unfortunate, but you are diagnosed with MS and we'll have to just refer you to the MS clinic nearby. So it was not like I didn't expect it. But I just didn't want to hear it. I wanted it to be, I just didn't want it to be what it was. After being diagnosed I left the doctor's office and I remember my friend was waiting outside in the waiting area. And he just saw me crying and he came up to me and said what's wrong? And I told him I guess my worst fears came true. I told them that that the diagnosis and he kept on saying are you sure maybe you should get a second opinion? But inside I knew that what the doctors were telling me were right. I didn't know what it was. And to be honest, I was quite healthy, you know, I would work out I would go for jogs. I would eat healthy, never liked sweet things and so I never thought that something like this would happened to me. It was quite scary like to know that just out of blue you get a very horrible disease. When I went home from the doctor's office, I literally was in bed all day and I was basically sobbing. I didn't want to talk to anyone I turned off my phone. Luckily my cats were nearby and they always made me feel better so and I had I did have family, but I just didn't want to tell them what was happening at that time.

3:23  
Hi my name is Shenaz.  I'm Florence's mom. I think she she's disappointed. She feels end of the world. I don't blame her, she's educated person. She had a has an had a lot of dreams that it's dying inside her, so I wish I could change that but I know it's hard.

3:56  
I went through a stage like everyone. They go through a stage of denial and I was in denial for at least maybe three years. I knew I felt like I could, you know, do something about it. It could not happen to me. I was too young to be going through it. I didn't know what to expect. You know, it was something new. I never heard about this disease before, so it was very new to me and I was more scared of the future. I just felt like maybe I did something wrong in life, and I was being punished. It wasn't a good feeling because I kind of lost faith in everything. I was hopeless. I was very lost. I just knew that there was no cure for this disease. If I could go back and tell myself something, I would definitely tell myself to just continue living life. And don't be scared of the future because fear really does paralyze a person. I would just say, don't let the fear eat you up and don't let it affect how you live your life.