Interviewed at Authors to Watch

I had the opportunity recently to be interviewed by the wonderful Tricia over at the book review website: Authors to Watch.

It was a great time and I hope that you will book mark the site and use it as a resource to check out new books by emerging authors.

http://www.authorstowatch.com/2014/10/interview-with-andrew-nelson.html

Introduction to MS (When your world gets turned upside down)

MS - Multiple Sclerosis 

The very words send a shiver down your spine, and makes you want to change the subject to something more pleasant.

But what happens when you cannot change the subject? What happens when the subject picks you? Worse yet, what happens when the subject picks your child?

Welcome to our new world.

Last September we received the diagnosis no parent wants to hear, our son Luke has MS. We had taken him to the ER because he was physically unable to walk. He'd been previously treated (and misdiagnosed) as having severe vertigo. However, upon examination, the ER doctor immediately diagnosed him as a severe fall risk, admitted him and sent him for an MRI which showed the scarring on his brain. He subsequently lost sight in one eye, although that has partially returned.

The disease usually affects those between the age of 20-50 and is two times more likely to affect females. He's 23 and male, guess he just got lucky.

There is no cure for MS and the current course of treatments only serve to improve function after an attack, or attempt to prevent new ones. Each attack does its damage, which is irreparable. 

I'm proud of my son. He had a choice. He could either bitch and moan about how unfair life was, or he could chose to fight back. He chose the latter. 

In retrospect the illness began most likely in May, but might have been even earlier. There were small tells with his walking, which we just passed off as being clumsy. Either way, nothing we could have done would have prevented this. We must all now learn to cope with it.

Sadly, it is not the disease which is proving to be so formidable, but the system. At 23, unable to work, and living in central Illinois, there is no assistance available to him. He lost his unemployment, because of the illness, and is not ill enough to merit disability as of now. 

We have been trying to help him as best we can, but it is an uphill battle. My wife has set-up a fund, to try and help him get out of the immediate financial hole that the disease has caused him. I would be extremely grateful if you would take the time to visit it, and perhaps share it with friends and family.

http://www.gofundme.com/Lukes_MS_Fund

Every donation helps.

I'm a writer, and I get to create characters and the worlds they live in. If it were up to me, this is one story I would never have chosen to write.

Thank you and God bless !!

Andrew