Hello There,
My name is Brian but my friends call me BS. Why do my friends call me BS you might ask?
It might be because funny things just tend to happen to me. Or it’s because BS is my initials.
Anyways, let’s start from the beginning of my story.
I was born and raised in Canada … Yay. The True North, strong and free!
Growing up I was always a bit of a slow learner. Being my parents were from Portugal they had to stop speaking Portuguese to me because frankly, I was not getting it. By age 3 (I think it was) I was saying my first words.
I had to go to a special pre-school for kids with learning difficulties. Then in elementary school, I was eventually transferred to 3 different schools trying to find the right program for me.
At this point, it was safe to say that I was not the sharpest tool in the chest. To give you an idea where I was at … By Grade 7, I was doing simple multiplication and division. Go me!
Then my parents thought it would be good for me to try to learn an instrument. My younger sister (I only have one sibling) wanted to play Piano at the time. Whereas, I wanted to learn to play the Guitar.
Weeks later I was sitting in front of a music teacher and a piano. Guess who did not win that argument. Such BS! Anyways … back to the story.
Before I knew it Grade 8 was around the corner. I was excited and scared like most kids. The only reason why I was excited was that it was a fresh start.
You need to understand. I jump from elementary schools every few years, so I made no friends. I was bullied for being in special classes and extremely overweight. All this just made me socially awkward on top of me being naturally a shy kid. Not a good combination.
So when I started Grade 8 I thought all this was going to be behind me. But ohhh was I wrong.
I had all special classes in Grade 8 which I was fine with. At this point, I gave up on my education. The turning point was in my first grade 8 math course I opened the book to the first question and saw 2+2 as the first question.
I literally felt insulted. I mean in Grade 7, I was doing multiplication and in Grade 8 I felt like I just took 2 steps back.
From that point on, a fire was lit under my ass to take control of my education. I ended up challenging the school system to see what I can do to get me in regular classes.
In order for me to get into regular classes, I had to pass all the exams that regular students take in order for me to show that I am ready for regular classes.
On the surface, this sounds like a fair plan but the school system was not going to provide any support or materials for me to reach this goal.
So after I stole … I mean borrowed some textbooks I self-taught everything I missed out in Grade 8 & 9 from English to History and Math. After many days and wasted summers, I got into regular classes by Grade 10 except for Math. I don’t get into regular Grade 10 Math until I was Grade 11. Yep, I was a year behind in my math.
Remember how I said I was overweight? In Grade 8 there were mandatory wrestling classes that we had to take. Unfortunately for me, I was over 200 lbs and was grouped with the Grade 12s. Talk about being good for the self -esteem … right!
This is where I met my highschool bully … Who believe it or not tried to actually break my ankle using the Kurt Angle Ankle Lock for those of you who might remember the WWE old days.
The following months later I was constantly being pushed around by him. Then I hit a breaking point where I had enough of this BS. And for the first time ever, I found myself walking into the community center’s gym where I eventually found my first passion. Weightlifting.
By the start of Grade 9, I lost about 20 pounds and was gaining a good amount of strength. Halfway through Grade 9, the bully left me alone. By Grade 10, I joined a weightlifting competition held within my high school and won first place beating out mainly Grade 12 students.
Also, it was by Grade 10 where I was starting to take learning how to play Piano seriously and was something that I actually enjoyed playing. Not to mention, I found out the ladies liked a guy who can play an instrument.
I graduated high school on the honour roll and was presented with a grant for being the most improved student. Things were finally looking up for me.
After graduation, I continued working in the food processing plants which I have been doing since I was 16 years old. My parents did not make a lot of money and I always knew that if I wanted to do more with my life I had to pay for it myself.
The point where my life changed forever
Weeks before my 19th birthday, I woke up on a Monday morning having a tingly and hot sensation down both my legs. I was able to still move them so I thought perhaps I hurt myself in the gym the day before or I pinched a nerve sleeping. So I headed off to work.
I was barely able to finish the day.
The next morning, things got worst. From the waist down I was completely numb. I was not able to feel my hand on my legs but my legs felt like they were on fire. The left side of my face and upper body were numb. And I was forced to quit my job.
Two months later after various tests and an MRI scan of my spinal cord and brain provided the doctors with the information they needed to diagnose me with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
There are many different forms of MS. Doctors still don’t understand what causes it and there is no cure for it. Nowadays there are treatment options to help minimize the impact or slow down the amount of damage.
MS is the result of your immune system attacking your brain and central nervous system. The damage caused by these attacks can cause life long issues over time and with more attacks, you have more issues you will have. Some can experience these attacks slowly (like once every 10 years and others can be once every month).
After my diagnosis, even more, symptoms occurred ranging from loss of vision to pain and the feeling to constantly use the bathroom.
At this point, I was depressed, like any normal person would be going to something like this. I had to give up weightlifting, playing the piano, playing street hockey with friends and much more.
This made me realized that if I was going to do anything for a job it could not be with my hands. I had little control of my hands at this point and was not sure if I ever will again.
So I decided to gamble on myself and signed up for engineering. Engineering was a dream of mine since I was a kid. I believe the seed was planted in my head by watching the discovery network with my dad where they talk about science and megaprojects.
I never felt like I was smart enough before to do this. But realizing that I could not trust my body made me feel like I needed to try to pursue my dream. I did not want any regrets.
My first MS attack lasted throughout my first year of engineering school. In my second year, I was slowly recovering for the first attack. Then two years later I was able to graduate.
Fast Forward to the Present
I am now 32 years old. 13 years living with MS. And I’ve been working as an engineer for the past 8 years. And the best part is that I am in good health.
But that does not mean I have fears about my future.
In the event of a worst-case scenario, I want to be able to ensure I can provide for my family (That is when I have a family) if I am unable to work. I plan on doing this by being focus on investing the money I make.
So with this blog, I want to document my journey to try to reach a point where I feel like I can provide for my family in the future or just myself if I am unable to work.
Also, I want to help others who have MS and how to manage the disease on whatever form that might be. If that just means I can be an example of how to overcome this disease. Or if that means I share my experiences related to MS and how I manage them.
Will I be able to reach this goal? Only one way to find out! …