Profile Story

James F

oster

3/3/18

Profile Story

“I will not be labeled as someone who is disabled. I am a strong independent black woman and I will not fail.” That was a powerful statement from Ashley Smith, 26, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in August 2017.

The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America recognizes march as Multiple Sclerosis awareness month. Multiple Sclerosis is a disease in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of nerves. It is a rare disease with fewer than 200,000 US cases per year. It is a chronic disease that can last for years or lifelong and treatment can help, but the condition is incurable. With a disease being as rare as MS, many could make the argument that it doesn’t garner the attention that it should.

One of those people is Smith, who believes that just because you can’t see the symptoms she has like you would with cancer that it’s not as significant. When Smith first found out about her having the disease it left her devastated and she knew her life would take a drastic change. “I was at work when I got the call from my doctor and I was shocked when he told me,” says Smith. “Me and my doctor talked about it and I called my job and told them I wasn’t coming back. I went home and did my research and I was disappointed with the fact that I would be stuck with a disease that I can’t get rid of.”

Before MS, Smith lived life the way she wanted to. Growing up in Tallahassee for twenty years now Smith described herself as a “tomboy” in her younger years. She remained active in high school by playing basketball and volleyball and was symptom free up to college.

However, after her symptoms began to take a toll on her she described life as being “hard as hell.” Her inability to go certain places and do certain things restrains her from doing the things she wants to do. For example, one of her symptoms is her body is heat sensitive, so if she goes to a place that’s warmer than usual it could affect her walking. However, Smith says that one of the things on her bucket list is to go to an amusement park and be able to walk around the park and get on all the rides without any assistance.

Frank Peterman, Young’s fiancée, has known Young for more than 4 years now says that Young is fearless and he doesn’t know anybody who’s pushed harder than her. “When I first found out about her diagnosis it was very rough for the both of us,” says Peterman. “I try to keep her encouraged through everything, tell her to keep her head up, workout with her at times to improve the strength in her legs. We still love to do the things we did before like go out to eat, watch movies together, go to a poetry event but we understand the challenge that MS brings and we plan to attack it together.”

If anyone understands what it means to go through these adverse situations with Young, it’s her sister Alexius who’s been with her since birth. Alexius admits that their age gap, 20 to 26, caused the two of them to be distant but as time went on they’ve gotten closer. “She’s become more reliant on me and I’ve been better at trying to incorporate her in my schedule,” says Alexius. “When I first found out I was shocked and I had to do my research on it so I could understand better and be there for her. I try to keep her head up mentally by listening to her and we also do things like hold hands and workout together. Anything I can do to be there for her.”

Just last week Ashley had an incident in which her symptoms got the best of her and her legs got weak causing her to fall and knock her front teeth out. Most people would’ve sat in their sorrows and blamed the world for their circumstances but not Ashley. That same week she decided to record a video shining a light on MS despite missing her front teeth. Ashley, Famu alum, has plans to go to Florida State University and pursue her master’s degree in American policy. She believes that policies in America aren’t tailored for the black community and wants to change that. “Resilient” that’s the word Alexius used to describe her sister and the same thing that keeps Ashley moving forward with each passing day.