In 2001, Karla Clay, a retired United States Air Force captain, had a suspicion. She thought the dizziness, tingling and other symptoms she felt for years might be caused by multiple sclerosis.After going through a series of tests, Clay went to her follow-up appointment and pointedly asked her doctor if she had MS. A few seconds later, he confirmed her suspicion.“It didn’t hit me completely as a ton of bricks,” Clay says. “It was good to have a diagnosis. To have a name for all these different things."But while her diagnosis brought relief, it also brought uncertainty. She started wondering, "What's going to happen to me? Where am I going?"The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates there are 55,000 to 70,000 Veterans living with MS in the U.S. For many of those Veterans with MS, this unpredictable disease can make the adjustment from the military to civilian life tougher. But with the right resources and support, Veterans can be more than their MS.“We have to survive, learn from it, adapt and figure out what’s next just like we were trained as active-duty service members,” says Ashley Lee, a U.S. Navy Veteran diagnosed in 2017.Thanks to the support of others, resources from different places such as the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and a positive mindset, Clay is doing just that and living her best life with MS.“I just try to focus on what I can do and not focus on what I can’t do or what I used to do,” Clay says. “I try to take whatever I can do and move forward.”
