Like so many others, Jeff Beard faced a long, frustrating road to a definitive MS diagnosis. A lifelong athlete, in 2007, he began experiencing leg weakness and what he thought were severe muscle cramps, interrupting his running 6 to 8 miles a day. After appointments with several physical therapists, he finally heard, “We’re not making any progress. You may have a neurological problem.” He recalls the devastation upon hearing a doctor explain that his running days were over. “That was probably the saddest day of my life.”He embarked on years of physical therapy but was still experiencing symptoms that were interrupting his daily life. In 2017, after 3 months of rigorous testing, a neurologist confirmed he had primary progressive MS. Jeff had never met anyone with MS but felt relief. “With a diagnosis, you can do something about it.”Jeff continued to manage life the best he could. Throughout the years, he endured open heart surgery and a prostate cancer. And despite doing his best to maintain a consistent exercise routine, his weight increased, and he knew he needed to find solutions.
