The Life and Times of Marlene Condon
BY: Jessica Condon
April 29, 2013
PHILADELPHIA – Marlene Condon began her day as normal on April 30, 2003. After she
woke up, she raced around her new house to rouse three of her children and get them ready
for school. Then, she hurried to get herself ready for her new job at Decision One as an
administrative assistant in the marketing department.
On any other day, Condon would have returned from work to whip together a quick
but healthy dinner for her family before helping her kids get ready for bed. Finally, after a
long day, she would have let herself fall into bed to get a few hours rest before she started all
over again.
However, Condon’s schedule was drastically changed on April 30. At half past three,
Condon’s legs “began to feel like jelly,” she said. “My legs began to feel numb and my left
side felt weak.”
Condon made a trip to the ladies’ room, but had difficulty walking. A work friend
gave Condon a ride to the nearest emergency room. At the ER, Condon’s leg was dragging
behind her as she moved and she was unable to lift her arm. “I began to believe I was having
a stroke,” she said.
“I…asked for a wheelchair to take me back into the emergency room treatment area.
The nurse tried to move me to a stretcher and I almost fell on the floor. Immediately, doctors
ran over and began to check me for signs of a stroke. Within minutes I was taken to have a
CAT scan to determine if I was actually having a stroke.”
However, Condon was not having a stroke. After many other tests, the doctors
diagnosed Condon with Multiple Sclerosis. According to the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society, “MS is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system
(CNS) which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves.”
In patients with MS, an unknown antigen attacks the myelin sheath, a fatty protective
coating which “‘surrounds and insulates the nerve fibers,’ in the central nervous system.”
The MS Society considers Condon’s symptoms mild. The more severe symptoms
include paralysis or loss of vision. And, unlike other diseases, MS is unpredictable and the
progress of the condition varies from patient to patient.
When Condon’s test results returned, the doctors diagnosed her with Balo’s
Concentric Sclerosis. With Balo’s, usually found in middle aged Asian men, patients have
one large lesion made up of several concentric rings. Condon was a 37-year-old mother of
four when she was diagnosed.
An MRI scan of a patient with Balo’s Concentric Sclerosis. Image from Radiopaedia.org
Condon said she frequently thought “that this could not be happening to me, that it
had to be something else, something I could recover from, something that would heal.” She
often asked herself, “What could I [have] possibly done to deserve this?”
Condon spent four months in physical therapy, but “it took me almost nine months to
learn how to walk again without the use of any assistive devise.”
Some remnants of Condon’s walking aides are still scattered around her house: a set
of crutches leans against a wall in the basement, a wheelchair sits alone in the garage and a
second set of handrails was installed parallel to the staircase in her house. The handrails were
added by Condon’s father to help with her stability as she mounted the stairs.
But Condon did not regain all of her motor skills after therapy. She revealed that she
has difficulty “[walking] for long periods of time. I can’t run, or hop skip or jump. I can’t
dance. I have difficulty writing, and my handwriting keeps getting worse.”
Luckily, Condon has not experienced a second episode of MS since 2003. As a
precaution, she sees a neurologist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania every six
months. At these visits, Condon gets an MRI scan of her brain so her neurologist can check
for areas of damage to her brain, called lesions.
Condon’s health has not been the only thing to change since the onset of MS. Before,
Condon had plans to continue her education. Condon said she hoped to “obtain my degree in
Management Information Systems at Drexel University and to [work] at Decision One…in
their marketing department.”
But now, Condon has “been unable to work due to the weakness on my left side and
the severe fatigue the illness causes me to have. I miss working and the feelings of
accomplishment that working always gives me. I miss going to school and what earning my
degree would have allowed me to continue accomplishing. So, my career has ended, and I
find myself searching for a way to be of some use and a way to keep myself busy.”
Usually, Condon occupies her time at home watching TV or playing games on her
laptop. Sometimes, Condon helps her oldest daughter by babysitting her three grandchildren.
Even with her lack of constant energy, Condon does her best to keep up with their constant
motion.
Condon will have to cut back on her time with her grandsons soon, when she moves
down to Florida. Condon will be retiring down by Orlando to a 55 and older community with
her boyfriend. The community has a pool, which her doctors recommend. “Water therapy has
been proven to be of much benefit to people with MS,” Condon said.
Condon revealed that sometimes “there are still days when I can’t believe that I have
MS and that I will have it for the rest of my life.” And Condon’s condition will worsen over
time. “The long-term prognosis is that my disease…will cause me to deteriorate to the point
of needing constant long-term care.”
Until that point, Condon’s morning routine has been forever altered. She needs more
time to shower (almost an hour), she takes daily medication to help ease fatigue and pain, she
injects another medication to slow the progression of her disease, and then she has to
determine how she wants to spend her day. She cannot make long-term plans for activity
levels because her energy levels change daily.
Though much is still unknown about MS, Condon reads “the magazine put out by the
NMSS which keeps me updated on ongoing research and medical advancements in MS
treatment.”
Related Links:
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Multiple Sclerosis Foundation
What is MS? What is Multiple Sclerosis?
Multiple Sclerosis