People USA – August 05, 2019

She was initially diagnosed with depression.

Years before her diagnosis last summer, Blair

sensed something was wrong, but she brushed aside

the warning signs. “I had been sick since my son was

born in 2011,” she says. “Initially I thought it was just

postpartum depression, then custody fears.” She

admits to being embarrassed by her symptoms—

severe fatigue, lack of control of her limbs and

falling, feeling disoriented—but doesn’t blame her

original doctor for missing the signs. “I don’t know

how much I covered up,” she says. “I sabotaged my-

self because I wouldn’t admit that I couldn’t move

correctly.” Discovering she had MS wasn’t all bad:

It allowed her to close the book on an unpleasant

life chapter and focus on her future. “My sickness

helped me recognize my strength. It’s been a year

of learning how to stand up for myself and for oth-

er people,” she says. “I feel more comfortable in my

skin now, even if my actual skin is uncomfortable.”

Little things can bring unexpected joy.

Having MS makes adhering to routines difficult,

Blair says, because she never knows what state her

mind and body will be in when she wakes up. “It’s

constant weakness and fatigue,” she says of her

WHAT IS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS?

MS is a chronic neurological condition in which the immune system attacks the protective

covering around neurons and disrupts signals from the brain to other areas of the body. “MS is

not a terminal illness,” notes Dr. Meghan Beier, a neuropsychologist at Johns Hopkins. It can have

flare-up periods in which symptoms are more severe before subsiding into a more manageable

state. (Blair is currently considered to be in the middle of a flare.) Progress and symptoms

vary from person to person, because “it depends on how your immune system is activated and

on the type of MS you have,” Beier says. The cause remains unknown.

health

in so many other ways even if the MS isn’t better

yet.” The disorder has inspired her to do more with

what she has, like being an advocate for the differ-

ently abled, paying forward the love and support she’s

received and soaking up as much time with her son

as possible. “This is it. The only life we get,” she says.

“My disease isn’t a tragedy, but I tell myself, ‘You’re

going to live in a way that would be an example for

yourself and your son.’ ”

PEOPLE August 5, 2019 45

Supportive

Sisters

Blair’s close friends

Jaime King (with

her, above) and

Sarah Michelle

Gellar (with her,

above right) have

stepped in to help

her. “It’s been

every thing to me,”

Blair says of their

kindness.