SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — When Natalie Board was just 20 years old, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It’s an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system attacks its own nerves.
She soon started treatments and now 15 years later, she’s sharing a message of hope.
Natalie Board was a student at USD when she began noticing numbness on the right side of her body.
“At one point it almost looked like I was having a stroke, I had facial droop on one side, because it was the whole right side,” Board said.
After taking a spill during basketball practice, her coach told her it was time to go to the doctor.
“When I was running I kind of fell and couldn’t catch myself and so that was some weakness and numbness, it was the whole right side, I remember washing my hair and I could feel it- that my scalp felt different,” Board said.
She was referred to Dr. Jerome Freeman, a neurologist at Sanford Health who diagnosed her with MS in 2007. Since then she has worked with Freeman and others as she takes treatments for the disease.
“Natalie really exemplifies what I think both of us hope for, that someone’s life to continue the way they want it too,” said Dr. Jerome Freeman, a neurologist at Sanford Health.
“It’s a silent disease, for the most part, there are some outward signs but a lot of it is an internal battle, it’s fatigue, anxiety and depression that goes along with it, then there’s the weakness,” Board said.
“I saw her for the first time a few months ago and it went very well. It was an easy visit, more continuation of the care, she’s doing very well, she’s a fighter”, said Dr. Abdul Alchaki, a neurologist at Sanford Health.
Board says on most days she doesn’t notice her MS and now wants to spread awareness and hope for others with the disease.
“There is rays of light, there’s positivity to this, it’s not a death sentence or you know ‘it’s gonna be a sentence that’s gonna end with all the dreams you had is gonna be over’, it’s not like that at all,” Board said.
In honor of National MS Awareness Week, the Arc of Dreams in Downtown Sioux Falls will be lit up with orange Friday and Saturday. For more resources on MS click here.