Hard to believe it’s time to go. Seems like we’ve been waiting forever, even though we only just decided to take this journey a few weeks ago. Time goes slow when you’re looking at such a drastic change about to take place. Our day to day lives were filled with nice walks with our dog and relaxing nights on the couch watching tv. No more.

We’re simple people who don’t travel often and rarely are around large crowds of people, because we prefer it that way. Knowing the airport and city of Boston were sure to be overwhelming we are so glad we stayed in a hotel by the airport the night before our flight, thanks to wonderful friends. It was a huge relief to not be stuck in traffic stressing to get to our flight.

So we’re off to the airport and we had no long lines of people as we checked our bags and went through security.

Whew one big stress down!

Now Georgia here we come!

No problem!! Lay over in Baltimore, check. Arrive in Atlanta, navigate to the baggage claim, check. Find the red line train and our destination stop, check. We even walked directly to the hotel just a mile or so away, check. We got this!

Lovely city, but definitely feel out of our element. The trail will feel more like home indeed.

It’s the morning of our trip now. I pinched myself to remember this is real. We’re about to walk to our shuttle after breakfast and then we head to the trail.

We’ll be in touch with you all as soon as we can.

Every dollar raised directly supports people living with MS in our community, funding important programs and services and fueling research. You are helping to create a bigger impact than you may realize.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/mymsvstheat

Our personal fundraising efforts to help with any medical expenses during our journey

https://gofundme.com/my-ms-vs-the-at

Every dollar raised directly supports people living with MS in our community, funding important programs and services and fueling research. You are helping to create a bigger impact than you may realize.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/mymsvstheat

Our personal fundraising efforts to help with any medical expenses during our journey

https://gofundme.com/my-ms-vs-the-at

It’s almost here! This countdown that we’ve been on since we had this, wild last minute decision set to alter the course of our lives, is coming to an end. I can hardly believe that this time has come.

We finally have all the plans in place. The details of Home life are set in motion. Last day of work has come and gone. All this planning has had our heads spinning. I think I understand now what it must be like to have the MS mind fog. Last medical infusion at home for Ben is done and the next infusion planned for when we need to pull off the trail. Then we plan the next after that, and the next after that as we go along. We’re grateful for a wonderful medical team to help us keep up with his treatments as they are needed on a regular basis.

I woke this morning with a sad realization that this is one of the last days with our beloved dog. She’s definitely aware something is about to happen with all this planning and packing.

She’s going to be in good hands with loving family and friends to keep her company while we’re gone. She’ll be missed dearly.

We’re finishing up our last opportunities to visit with family and friends this weekend. It’s so bittersweet.

Our thoughts are filled with excitement, joy and of course a reasonable sense of fear. There’s so much to fear of the unknown. Doing new things can be scary. Every day for us will be a new day filled with new challenges. Though, as in life itself, every challenge and struggle brings greatness. It’s better to look at the greatness that lies ahead not the struggles. This will be our focus in the days ahead.

We’ve done plenty of research and the section hikes we’ve done in years past are a helpful resource for what to expect. Except no matter what we do to prepare we won’t know our strength until we’re in the moment of each challenge that lies ahead. We’re as ready as we’ll ever be. And now the journey must begin.

Two more mornings waking up in our own bed and two more nights to enjoy it’s comfort. Then there will be two nights in a strange, but luxurious, hotel bed before we no longer know the comforts of home and luxury.

Count down three, two, one……….

Every dollar raised directly supports people living with MS in our community, funding important programs and services and fueling research. You are helping to create a bigger impact than you may realize.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/mymsvstheat

Our personal fundraising efforts to help with any medical expenses during our journey

https://gofundme.com/my-ms-vs-the-at

When you are on the Appalachian Trail hiking and meeting new people, the first thing everyone asks is, “what’s your trail name?.”

Here’s the story of how we got our tail names.

Welcome to the story of how we get our trail names, Skippy and Slinky.

Back when we hiked our first multiple overnight on the Appalachian Trail we couldn’t wait to get our trail names. We heard so much about how you have to be given your trail name by other hikers. To us as new hikers it sounded like a badge of honor. As we met other hikers on the trail we asked everyone their trail names and how they got them. Everyone seems eager to tell you the story that brought them to their trail names. We had so much fun learning about the hikers we met. The stories hikers shared were always so interesting and intriguing.

Our hike that year came and went, but no trail names were given to us.

Next year on the trail we did a little more research about these infamous trail names. We read on many hiker sites that even though most trail names are given by other hikers there were many hikers that hiked with trail names given by themselves. So we pondered this notion. Hmm…maybe not the badge of honor we were hoping for, but we could give each other our trail names.

We set off on our second multiple night hike on the Appalachian Trail with this heavy on our minds.

This year my foolish husband had a painful toe from kicking the base of our fish tank weeks prior. The tough guy he is, of course, refused to see the doctor about this before our hike. He’s just going to tough it out on the trail. Well, he did and somehow the trail fixed his toe for him.

We were at our first night campsite, at the base of White Cap Mountain and while setting up camp for the night, I look over and see Ben skipping about. What on earth is he doing? When he stopped doing this funny little jig, he tells me “wow, it’s better.” He somehow got his toe to go back into place. All this time he’s been walking around in pain with a toe that the doctors could have put back in place for him.

Thank goodness he can walk again without pain and luckily at the beginning of our hike.

As we hiked the next day I told him he should consider being called skippy. Then he told me about how his late father used to call him that when he was a kid. So that sealed the deal, Skippy it was and it would be perfect!

We hiked on.

Skippy and me. Still no name for me.

The hiking this year was a bigger challenge than the last year we hiked. The mountains and terrain in general were far more challenging. The mountains were huge and we had days of hiking peak after peak between campsites. My hiking legs eluded me. I would hike just past a stump or a rock that I would see ahead on the trail and HAVE to stop. Doing this over and over, Ben told me that I hiked like a slinky. Go stop, go stop. Yup, kinda like a slinky.

Slinky. That’s it!

Okay, he’s right, a slinky I am and a slinky I will be.

Even though we weren’t given our trail names by other hikers. We were given our trail names by the most important hikers.

We’re a team when we hike. A team in life itself.

Follow our blog and keep up with our stories. The hike has yet to begin. You won’t want to miss it.

Every dollar raised directly supports people living with MS in our community, funding important programs and services and fueling research. You are helping to create a bigger impact than you may realize.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/mymsvstheat

Our personal fundraising efforts to help with any medical expenses during our journey

https://gofundme.com/my-ms-vs-the-at

Hello! My name is Meadow! My mom tells me that I have many names too. Meadow Grace. Meadow of the Meadow. Usually that’s when I run and bounce in the tall grass, as I love to do, since the moment I first saw it. Monster Meadow, aka “The Kraken”.

But my friends know me as “Girl Friend”.

I was a lucky puppy to wind up with such loving humans. My Foster mommy used to tell me that I was going to be really lucky one day! She was right.

My mom and dad take me everywhere and love me so much. They call it, spoiled. I don’t know what that is, but I think you all would like it.

I fell madly in love with humans. Even the little ones are a lot of fun!

I was so lucky to have so much fun. I was outside all the time doing what they called hiking. It was just really fun!

When I was only 7 months old we went hiking for days and days. This was one of the most fun times we all had as a family.

I carried my own food and snacks in my back pack and my mom and dad had packs too. We did a hike that was called the 100 mile wilderness. We only did the north half the first time though. Then the next year we did the southern half. I loved it except the second time was not as much fun.

The second time was fun, until I cut my paw going down a really steep mountain called White Cap Mountain. I was limping all night and just wanted to sleep and have my bed again.

Good thing my mom and dad decided, after seeing me like that, that I was going to go see my grandma and grandpa. Just like how much I love going to see my nanna. I love going to see them. They always spoil me. We have so much fun there.

Oh What’s that!

Oh goodness everyone! I see Ms. Meadow has been at it again. She has been chatting away with you all. She can be a nosey little girls some times.
Maybe I should take it from here.

Hello! It’s me, Colleen, Meadow’s mom and the wife of Ben. Let me see if I can finish up what she was trying to tell you all.

Yes, the first half of the 100 mile wilderness was amazing. This was when we fell madly in love with the trail. This was when we vowed that some day we were going to find a way to hike the Appalachian Trail. One of the best views we got on that trail in those 5 days, is one of the best views on the whole 2,190 mile trail. Mount Katahdin is a breath taking sight.

Our second hike, as Meadow pointed out in a way, was more of a challenge. I realized this time that hiking the whole AT was going to be much more physically taxing than I thought after the first trip. Even though the physical challenges are not my favorite thing, I love being in the woods. I know Meadow does too, and she is a really good hiking dog, but this trip made me realized that this is maybe more than she can handle.

Fortunate for us, we found out that Meadow was able to access a road when she got hurt on our second trip. We were able to get her off the trail before she would have seen the steep slide of boulders at Chairback Mountain. This would have been too much for her. I wouldn’t have asked that of even the very best hiking dog (As she is, don’t let her think otherwise). We were lucky and even though the more taxing the second trip was, we still had a wonderful time.

Then came the diagnosis. Multiple Sclerosis.

What would happen? Would we still hike?

Months later was again our anniversary. Year 7 in marriage, and 16 together in total. Yes, a far more challenging year, but we are going to give this new chapter in our live its all.

We decided to do the less challenging section of the hike that we had done the first time. The northern half of the 100 mile wilderness, our favorite years past, just in time to bring peace back to our lives. Ah, this is going to be magic.

Meadow came, as she was able to do this one the first time with us. It was so much fun again. Ben was doing great, despite his new condition. We did better than we did the first time, doing long miles and with less weight.

Everyone brings way too much stuff the first time. We finally learned our lesson.

Ben and Meadow were having a great time. Even though I found out, when he was behind me, he hid some of his symptoms at times, we still did some 14 mile days.

Life is good! We can still do it! Until unfortunately Meadow hurt herself again. At Antler’s Campsite there was a beautiful secluded spot. This was the same spot we used the first time we hiked. Except this time when Meadow went swimming she cut both her front paws on broken pieces of fresh water clams.

We really could tell after hiking out of this campsite, that she did not want to do this any more. She sulked when putting her pack on and off the next day. She was no longer happy to see all the hikers. She was done!

We ended that day at Nahmakanta Lake and realized we had a dirt access road near by. There were also 2 amazing campsites with picnic tables and fire rings. Glamping for a hiker. We also found one bar on our cell phone and texted for help. Once we had reached family and knew we had supplies for a few more days, even supplies for mending Meadow’s wounds, we decided that we needed to stay right there and enjoy a couple more days of peace and quite.

It was perfect!

We stayed there 2 more days before we got picked up. We realized some really important things on this trip. One was that Ben CAN still hike. And the other, Meadow, though a great hiking dog, is not going to make the whole AT with us.

She would be far happier with family at home in her bed or on the couch covering a lap with her favorite humans.

Every dollar raised directly supports people living with MS in our community, funding important programs and services and fueling research. You are helping to create a bigger impact than you may realize. http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/mymsvstheat Our personal fundraising efforts to help with any medical expenses during our journey https://gofundme.com/my-ms-vs-the-at

Okay everyone, I’m going to get personal here. I need to share a very personal story that has impacted our lives leading up to the big decision we made about hiking the Appalachian Trail.

As I said before, some call it Karma, some, random acts of coincidence, and others call it divine intervention. Whatever you believe, that belief is very personal to you, as what I believe, is very personal to me. Bear with me now, as I share some very personal experiences that have led me to connect in a personal way to my belief, my faith.

Only a few months after my husband Ben was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, my mother passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. It really shook my family and myself to bear so much tragedy. She was a great woman, avid artist, friend to many, lover of the arts, and she even accomplished writing, illustrating and publishing her very own children’s story. Tragically she passed away before she could hold her book, that she worked so hard on in her hands. Her copies of her book were delivered on the front porch of her house that day, but she had already passed away of ischemic cardiovascular disease.

After going through all the events that happen after a death, wake, funeral service, memorial service of life and laying my dear mother into her grave, something very magical happened. My first “Powers That Be” moment. I was walking my dog outside and I looked down and found a four leaf clover, wow, and then later that day I found another four leaf clover, wow again. My mind was blown by finding these rare treasures. I searched for a meaning behind this and wow again, realized that this is my mother telling me, in a way I can not deny, that she is in heaven. I knew this for a fact. I was blown away.

I had grown up with faith in God. My mother was a devote catholic so I grew up in the catholic church. As I grew older I, as many do, strayed from my faith. I always believed in God, but I felt that the relationship I had with God was more in nature. After this though, I found myself wanting to understand it all. All of life’s big questions became my focus.

Then more and more four leaf clovers kept coming. I would literally be walking, look down and boom, there would lay a four leaf clover. I kept them in my bible. A bible my mother gave me years ago. I found these four leaf clovers all over. I found the most of course in the back yard where I took my dog out the most, but also I found some in other places like family’s houses and on the hiking trails I frequented. All and all I found about 130+ or so, but I lost count.

I had to do something with all these clovers. What on earth am I going to do with so many. Well, my mother loved her prayer cards. I got them from her often with gifts. So, ah! Yes, that is what I should do with them. I made little prayer card with nice messages on them. I would hand them out to people and even leave them in the grocery store with the four leaf clovers facing out. It made me chuckle thinking of someone walking along in the store and finding a four leaf clover.

I pray now, and I would pray daily that my clovers would bring blessings to those that found them. Maybe they would bring them good fortune as well. Though this phenomena was not bringing me any financial break throughs. I bought many lottery tickets thinking that my pot of gold could be coming from all of this. But no it hasn’t and I’m okay with that. I feel that this all has been a blessing to me. I have changed and become a new person.

I’m very fortunate that Ben, a non religious person, was comfortable with this new me. He even supported me as I found a religious class that I started to attend, The Alpha Class. This class was a good way to bring myself back to my faith. My sister even attended the class with me. With the loss of our mother the class was instrumental in helping us to deal with our loss. We even shared a “Powers That Be” moment the day we went to our first class. That day I found a poem in my mother’s jewelry box that was one my sister had felt compelled that year to memorize. We had no idea that this poem was also meaningful to our mother. So meaningful that my mother kept it in a place where she kept her treasures.

Invictus

OUT of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods that be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place if wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishment the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

With all these powerful experiences I was having, I started to wonder, how does a person get to heaven. Clearly I now believe that there is a heaven. My mother found her way to prove that to me (I may someday be brave enough to share this, but not yet). If it is faith that gets us there, well I think I’m now working on that, but I wondered how will my husband go to heaven if he is not a religious person. I know him so well, and know he is a really good person, who always tries to help others. He is filled with love in his heart. I thought long and hard about the teachings of the bible. I kept thinking about how “Love” is discussed so much in the bible. Then I read Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love”. I was stuck on this. Was this what will bring my husband to heaven? If he knows “love” does he know, God?

Next time I went to the little chapel room that I would go to when I wanted to have an intimate time with my faith and God. I prayed and prayed, asking for a sign that God could give me that would assure me these things. Then it happened. Another “Powers That Be” moment. An answered prayer as I saw it.

It was November, there was ice and snow all over, but there was a little bit of grass showing in the area I was taking my dog out to pee. This was the next morning after I went to the little chapel room. I look down and there it was, another four leaf clover.

I knew that this was my sign.

Okay last one to share now. I know I am going on and on about all this religious stuff. Don’t worry if this isn’t your kind of thing. This is just very precious to me so I want to share this all with you all.

So, I loved this alpha class so much, that I wanted to share it with others. I started an alpha class at my community building where I live. In one of these classes, I finally mustered up the courage to discuss my heartache of my husband’s job loss and on setting depression from it all. I felt I was losing my husband. He wasn’t the same. I opened up about how we always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. How I was sad to think of how this may someday not be possible with his condition. The discussion group I was in that night gave me the best advice. Advice that the world was trying to tell me in it’s own way, but I just wasn’t listening. Now I heard it though, loud and clear, as they said to me “Just do it”.

I could not stop thinking of it that night. I tossed and turned all night, not sleeping a wink. I figured it out. We CAN do it. We have most of the means needed if we tap into everything we’ve worked for. 401K, IRA we have the gear we need, hmm, this actually could happen.

Next day.

I’m elated with excitement to tell my husband. I run in the door when I’m on my lunch break from work and tell him, “I think we are supposed to hike the Appalachian Trail.” I explained all the things that lead me to believe this is true. It was a lot for him to grasp.

“No, no, there’s no way we can do this he said.”

Then it sank in. He started to think about it more and more until he realized the same, we CAN do this. We started to discuss the possibilities of this all as we were taking our dog Meadow out to pee. As we were talking I look down, and low and behold, there it is. Another sign. Another “Powers That Be” moment. A four leaf clover just where I was about to step.

Now that’s it.

Even though he has a hard time believing in all these moments I’ve been having, he’s now a part of one. One that is about to change our life as we know it. He more or less, believes this all to be more works of circumstance, or Karma, but it does not matter what way he wants to look at it. He’s a part of it now.

I am grateful for all of these “Powers That Be” moments that have been leading our life to where we are going. To me, I feel that God has the wheel. If he can lead us to it he can lead us through it.

What ever “Powers That Be” that works in your life, I hope you all feel the moments and treasure the journey.

Every dollar raised directly supports people living with MS in our community, funding important programs and services and fueling research. You are helping to create a bigger impact than you may realize. http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/mymsvstheat Our personal fundraising efforts to help with any medical expenses during our journey https://gofundme.com/my-ms-vs-the-at

This is the day our journey will begin. We look forward to updating you, our dear readers, as much as possible all along the way. Unfortunately, we will not be able to post on a daily basis since we will be located on a trail in the middle of the woods for days at a time. We will be updating you all every chance we get when we go through towns and find access to the internet.

Thank you for joining us.

This blog will be our opportunity to show the world what it is like to both have Multiple Sclerosis and be a supportive person to someone who has this disease. Both my wonderful husband, Ben, and I will be keeping journals of all the trials and tribulations we have along the way and we will be sharing all of this with you. We expect a lot of challenges along the way, but we hope our days are full of more victories than defeats.

What ever life throws at you, don’t let it get you down.

This is the message we hope you all can draw inspiration from.

When we got the news about this diagnosis it was devastating. These images of the MRI scans show the lesions on his brain and the one that worries us the most is the MRI of his spine, because those are the lesions that will effect his mobility.

In short, when you find out you got some bad news, find the silver lining. Instead of waiting for things to get worse, get ahead of the bad days and create good days. We look forward to many good days ahead of us.

Donations to the MS Society are greatly appreciated

Every dollar raised directly supports people living with MS in our community, funding important programs and services and fueling research. You are helping to create a bigger impact than you may realize.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/mymsvstheat

Our personal fundraising efforts to help with any medical expenses during our journey

https://gofundme.com/my-ms-vs-the-at

Thanks for joining us!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

It’s funny how the world works. Some call it Karma, some, random acts of coincidence, and others call it divine intervention.
We each have moments when things are not going our way. There are problems and we can’t seem to find answers. We keep getting up, but the world keeps knocking us back down.
A wise person once said, “the world speaks to us in whispers. If we ignore the whispers, it gets louder and eventually shouts.” My name is Colleen. My amazing husband Ben and I missed the whispers. We can no longer ignore the shouts.
Here is our story…

A few years ago, in celebration of our fifth anniversary, Ben and I decided to hike half of the hundred mile wilderness in the beautiful state of Maine. This adventure presented us with physical and mental challenges that forced us to work together and trust each other more than ever before. We experienced moments of triumph and moments of true peace and inner clarity. It was a magical experience that simultaneously left us feeling fulfilled and yet also wanting more.
How fabulous, we thought, would it be to tackle the entire Appalachian Trail? Imagine six months hiking, camping, immersed in nature. It was just talk… a fantasy, a pipe dream, a someday.
Life went on. Work. Family. Weekend hikes. Repeat. But the fantasy lingered in our dreams and our stray thoughts. Always there, but buried beneath the real world. Life was busy and routine. Life was busy and routine until we were hit with the first challenge… maybe the first whisper.
Ben started having episodes of blurred vision. The doctors narrowed it down to two possibilities: Lyme disease from a tick bite or multiple sclerosis- a progressive degenerative disease that attacks the nervous system and affects a person’s mobility and causes diffuse pain.
It was overwhelming and scary waiting for results of multiple blood tests and MRI scans. We told ourselves… we told each other… if the diagnosis came back MS, we would rise above it. We would follow our dream. We would take on the Appalachian trail.
It was MS.
Treatments were discussed. Treatments were started. Some seemed to help. Some seemed to make things worse. Everyone’s journey with this disease is unique. What happens to one person may not happen to the next. A treatment that helps one person may have the opposite effect on another. The diagnosis came and went.
We adjusted to our new reality and carried on. Work. Family. Weekend hikes (fortunately Ben still could). MS treatments. Repeat.
Then life hit us again. No longer a quiet whisper. Anyone who suffers from a chronic physical disease is walking around with a secret. They are not only in physical pain, but there is an emotional component. There is fear of what the future holds. There is loneliness, and there is depression. Medications help, but medication is not completely benign. We noticed that Ben was starting to experience mood swings. My happy, loving husband had a shorter fuse and sometimes lashed out. He “lost it” at work one day. It was a job he was great at. It was a job he enjoyed. But he lost his cool and he lost his job. His neurologist revisited his medications and realized this was a known side effect of one we were using. We were able to adjust his medication, but the damage was done.
The future suddenly seemed more uncertain and scarier than ever. Could Ben work a normal job? Would employers see him as a weakness because of his disease? Would the road only be uphill from here on? Ben felt more depressed and had more questions that we could not find answers to. I couldn’t help my husband. I too felt lost.
Months went by and still no answers.
I needed to think outside the box. The universe must be speaking to me but I wasn’t hearing it. Maybe we were trying to force the wrong plan into place. Maybe we weren’t supposed to plan our new routine. Maybe we were supposed to pause our reality and revisit our dream. I couldn’t get the image of the Appalachian trail out of my mind. Daily, my mind would wander to how amazing it would be for Ben to take that hike. But I kept checking myself, because who drops everything to go wander the woods? It’s not what people do.
I needed a push, dare I say a shout? I decided to be brave and share our struggle and maybe even share my crazy fantasy. I am part of a church group, the Alpha Course. At our recent gathering I opened up to my group. Instead of laughing at my fantasy, instead of offering job leads, instead of asking me why I would consider such a thing, they said, “Just do it.”
Could it be that simple? Could we manage to “just do it?” I thought long and hard about what it would take. I thought of so many obstacles. But, for the first time in months, I also came up with solutions! We do have the means. Right now, Ben still can do it. This would be a big risk. An all-in, cash in all our chips risk, but it felt right.
I told Ben. He told me I was crazy. We couldn’t do it. But there was a glimmer in his eye that had been missing for months. Over the next few days he became more and more excited. My husband was back and he was all in.
Our last hurdle was the neurologist. Would she drag us back down to reality? Would she tell us Ben was too advanced, it was too risky? “Please,” we asked, “don’t sugar coat it.”
“Well,” she said, “it will be physically and mentally taxing. My honest recommendation…
Just do it!”

This is where our next chapter begins. We would like to invite others to take this journey with us. We want you to see that you can have MS and still fulfill your dreams. We will chronicle our adventures, the good times and the struggles on our social media page. We hope to bring more awareness to this “ghost” disease. Feel free to follow us on…mymsvstheat.com

No one really knows what makes the world work the way it does. But there are definitely times we are asked to listen and adjust our lives accordingly. I recommend you listen for the whispers. Don’t worry if you miss some though, there will eventually be a shout. Enjoy the journey, listen to your world, and may your heart and life be filled with blessings.

Donations to the MS Society are greatly appreciated

Every dollar raised directly supports people living with MS in our community, funding important programs and services and fueling research. You are helping to create a bigger impact than you may realize.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/mymsvstheat

Our personal fundraising efforts to help with any medical expenses during our journey

https://gofundme.com/my-ms-vs-the-at