The MS Beanball - Multiple Sclerosis Blog - Everyday Health

I have been trying to take it slowly these past few weeks. In order to pass some of the time I thought I?d pick up a book or two for a summer read.

?It?s a quick read,? my dearest pal Holly said to me upon handing over a novel we?ve spoken of, ?You?ll finish it in an afternoon.? Well, owing to my current state it took me better than two weeks to read.

While I respect John Grisham?s work as a writer, I?m not much of a fan of the Lawyer Thriller genera. This book, however, was about a mutual passion. Holly, like me, finds the 108 red, double-stitches on a baseball as romantic as a dozen long-stemmed Valentine?s Day roses. The book was about our sport and I thought I?d give Grisham a shot.

Calico Joe is a good summer read, especially for those of us who love the game. I found a kinship in the title character, however, beyond baseball.

Not that young Joe had MS; Joe was a rising young rookie with all the promise and potential in the world when he is taken out of the game, his career and much of his life by an intentional beanball (that?s a fastball thrown squarely at a batter?s head, for the uninitiated among us).

In an instant ? from the time the ball leaves the pitcher?s hand until it makes contact with Joe?s Temporal bone ? I saw, as a reader and as a person living with MS, how the protagonist?s life would change. Never again to follow his passion, struggling to relearn basic motor skills, coping with an ever-expanding cascade of related health issues.

MS hit me on a bright and sunny morning in April, not long after my team?s home opener over eleven years ago. I still remember the day and as vaguely Joe remembered graphic details while having lost much of his memory of the pitch that stole his career. I feel like MS stole my career and much else from me.

Like Calico Joe, however, we have all found a new way to focus our purpose in life. Some of us are further along in that process than others. Many of us are further along today ? and because of this blog community ? than we would have been without one another. I thank you for that.

MS got us with a sucker pitch, a cheap shot, with a beanball. We were carried off our field and are now trying to make sense of the senseless while getting on with our lives. There is much to be learned in the concept of forgiveness of the unforgivable. That was really much of the narrative arc of Grisham?s novel. A little of that forgiveness can go a very long way.

Wishing you and your family the best of health.

Cheers

Trevis

Don?t forget that you can also follow me via our Life With MS Facebook page, on Twitter, and our new group on MS Connection.org. Check out our bi-monthly blog for the UK and look for our Very Special new monthly blog for the National MS Society.

Source: http://www.everydayhealth.com/blog/trevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms/the-ms-beanball/

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