“I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1992. At the time I was thinking, I can live with this. My mom freaked out. But I told her, ‘It’s not cancer. It’s not AIDs. It’s not going to kill me. It’s going to be a pain in the butt sometimes, but I’m going to live with it.’ And that’s what I’ve done.

“There are a lot of MS blogs and websites for support and stuff like that. I’ll read things like, ‘Please pray for me. I’m having such a bad day. I don’t know how much longer I can take this.’ I hope people won’t misinterpret this, but that’s not me. I can’t hear that. I’m not the type of person who’s going to sit there and say, ‘Please do this for me. Please do that for me.’

“I guess it’s because of my dad. He passed away in May at 80 years old. He was in the Army Reserve for 30-something years. He was a civil engineer who built himself up into the executive vice president of the company. He worked all the time. And with him, if there was a problem, you take care of it. You don’t expect somebody else to do it for you.

“I understand why some people ask for support. In my job, people call and need help all the time. But personally, I’m not looking for somebody to hold my hand and say, ‘It’s going to be OK.’ I already know I’m going to be OK. I’m going to make it.”

— Nancy Worley

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“I was perfectly happy just being a registered nurse and doing my thing. I always wanted to be a nurse practitioner, but never thought I’d go back to school to achieve that.

“My motivations are different now. My husband was diagnosed with MS two years ago. He was having some issues with his vision. When they did an MRI of his brain, they found some lesions. The location impacts the cognitive part of the brain, so he forgets things. He doesn’t have a whole lot of functional limitations right now, which is good. He is able to work full time, plus he’s a full-time pastor.

“But with MS, you never know when something could strike and render you functionally disabled. That’s very scary, for him and for us. It’s why I returned to school for my nurse practitioner. That way, if I had to take care of our family, I could.

“Right now, I still work full time while taking a full caseload. It’s tough. I have my moments when I kind of want a break. I guess it’s my perseverance, my faith, my love for him and my family that pushes me through.

“Our four kids are doing great with it. They all have stepped up. The two oldest, especially, are a lot of help. They’re both in college as well. Who would have thought the three of us would be in school at the same time? It’s kind of strange, but that’s where life has taken us.”

— Kriste Vickers, 41

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“We’re selling the remains of what our mother and father owned.

“My dad died in January 2013 so, of course, I needed to bring my mother home with me. She had MS and wasn’t able to walk or do much of anything for herself. Then she died this past November. Even worse, in between, my husband died of a heart attack. He was only 51.

“So, yeah, it’s been a rough couple years. But they say bad things come in threes so, hopefully, we’re done.”

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“I got into beekeeping because my wife has multiple sclerosis, and we found that bee venom therapy helps her.

“She gets about 34 bee stings a week. I give her five in each arm, five in each leg, one in the head, one in the neck, one by her heart, and the rest in her back. Recently, we passed the 20,000-bee sting mark. She hasn’t been in the hospital for an MS hit since 1995.

“And I get 10-15 stings myself a week. It helps with my arthritis.”

— Bill Daley

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