MY STORY

In 2018, when I was 36 years old, I began experiencing numbness, tingling, and weakness along my left leg, left arm, and left hand. A busy mom of a 2-year-old boy, I brushed it off, figuring it was a herniated disc. But then, I started to limp. After describing my symptoms to a sports medicine doctor, he immediately ordered an MRI of not just my spine—but also my brain. I remember asking, “What the hell does this have to do with my brain?” Well, by lunchtime the next day, I knew what the hell it had to do with my brain. A neurologist called to tell me there were numerous lesions all over my brain and spine, which indicated multiple-sclerosis. MS. A chronic, degenerative disease of the brain and spinal cord. 

To say I was shocked and devastated is an understatement. I remember repeating, out loud, “This cannot be real.” As the tears flooded from my face, I thought only of wheelchairs, of how would I take care of my son, of…will I ever run again? 

I was a fit, former Division I distance runner, this could not be real. When I asked the neurologist if I would ever run again, he said, simply: “Not likely.” I had been a competitive runner since 14—an All-American in high school, and on the National Championship cross-country team at The University of Colorado. Running for me was like brushing my teeth. It wasn’t a matter of if I was going to do it that day, just when. And all of the sudden a critical part of my identity was ripped from me with a phrase from a Magic 8 Ball. Not likely. 

Fortunately, treatments for MS have come a very long way. There are a whole host of disease-modifying therapies that did not exist 20 years ago. And every six months, I take one of these drugs, via 5-hour infusion, followed by an MRI to monitor my response. Fortunately, these scans continue to show no new lesions, and most days, I feel almost entirely symptom-free. Thanks to my incredible teams of doctors, physical therapists, mental therapists, acupuncturists, and etc, etc, I am able to live a normal, joyful life. 

But with running, it's been a circuitous journey, with good days and bad. Early in my diagnosis, I was able to build back to running—even racing—some solid 5 and 10Ks. Now, I’m happy to cobble together a 3-mile walk/run. But I still do this, almost every day, because I have to. Because running has given me so much over the years. Because I am not ready to give up.

So it is in that spirit that The Lilibet Snellings Kyte Foundation was born. Since my diagnosis, I have felt increasingly called to make some good out of this mess. To marry the bad—my disease—with the good—my lifelong love of running, and my ability to connect with people as an author, both on and off the page. Each year, we will partner with a different organization dedicated to serving those with MS. And each fall, we will come together to do what I love most—run….or walk, or stroll, or roll—for the annual “Legging It For MS” 5K Road Race and the “One Mile for MS” Kids Fun Run. 

So join me. Come “run a myelin my shoes” (yes, that’s an MS joke). Whether it’s literally: meet me on the starting line at the 5K (or in the beer tent afterwards), metaphorically: come learn more about multiple-sclerosis, and what it’s like to live with it, or financially: come join the fight and support this vitally important cause.

MS is a cause that I certainly didn't choose, but for whatever reason, it chose me. And it is for that reason that I will work tirelessly to raise money and awareness for this disease—taking us one mile closer to ending MS.