Christina Applegate’s candid revelations about the impact of multiple sclerosis left us deeply moved. The 51-year-old actress bravely shared how the disease affects her daily life, emphasizing that ’’With the disease of MS, it’s never a good day”. Her openness about her fears and vulnerabilities only heightened our admiration for her courage.
Fear is part of her everyday life.
During a recent interview, Applegate reflected on the small blessings she used to overlook before being diagnosed with MS in 2021.
She noted that people ask her why she doesn’t take showers, and she explains that ’’getting in the shower is frightening.’’ The Dead to Me star added, ’’You can fall, you can slip, your legs can buckle. Especially because I have a glass shower. It’s frightening to me to get in there.’’
The 51-year-old went on admitting ’’There are just certain things that people take for granted in their lives that Itook for granted’’. She stated that some of them are simple daily tasks such as going down the stairs or carrying things.
The actress revealed that she can still manage to drive short distances and carry food upstairs to her daughter Sadie Grace who is 12, but she made it clear that she struggles with going ’’down, never up.’’
She pointed out ’’Gravity can just pull you down and take everything down with you.’’
Christina Applegate shares new details about living with MS.
In a recent appearance on ABC News, Applegate opened up about her journey with the degenerative disease. She revealed that even the act of sitting for the interview was challenging for her.
«I’m not out a lot, so this is a little difficult, just for my system,» she shared. «But of course, the support is wonderful, and I’m really grateful.»
She continued, «I’m not putting a time stamp on it. I’m never going to wake up and go, ’This is awesome!’ I’m just going to tell you that. It’s just not going to happen. I wake up and I’m reminded every day.»
She added, «I’m isolating and that’s kind of how I’m dealing with it by not going anywhere because I don’t want to do it. It’s hard.»
«(MS) can be very lonely because it’s hard to explain to people. I’m in excruciating pain, but I’m just used to it now.»
She’s not surrounded by too many people.
Despite the assumption that the actress has a support system of friends and family to assist her with everyday tasks, she revealed that she has kept her inner circle small since being diagnosed with MS. She admitted, ’’I actually don’t want to be around a lot of people because I’m immunocompromised.’’
Applegate shared that her friend lives with her during the week and assists her in taking care of Sadie. And on the weekends, a caretaker comes in.
Christina also mentioned that she prefers to avoid overstimulation of her nervous system as it can be overwhelming for her. Therefore, she tries to maintain a quiet and relaxed environment as much as possible.
She explained, ’’Imagine just being in a crowd of people and how loud that is. It’s like 5,000 times louder for anyone who has lesions on their brains.’’
Christina Applegate found unwavering support from her husband during her struggles with MS and breast cancer. His love and strength were pillars that upheld their family’s happiness, even in the face of adversity.
Preview photo credit VALERIE MACON/AFP/East News
Mary Lou Retton Has Pneumonia and ‘Is Fighting for Her Life,’ Daughter Says
The gymnastics champion sprang to stardom at the 1984 Olympics, where she became the first American woman to win a gold medal in the all-around competition. Her family is raising money online, saying she lacks health insurance.
May Lou Retton at the 1984 Olympics, where she won five medals.
Mary Lou Retton, who became one of the most popular athletes in the country after winning the all-around women’s gymnastics competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, has pneumonia and is “fighting for her life” in the intensive care unit, her daughter said in a statement this week.
Retton’s daughter McKenna Lane Kelley said on Instagram that her mother “is not able to breathe on her own” and that she had been in the intensive care unit for more than a week.
Kelley asked for donations to help pay for her mother’s hospital bills, saying her mother lacked health insurance. By Wednesday, she had raised more than $260,000 online from more than 4,600 donors.
She did not share more specific information about her mother’s condition, though she said that her pneumonia was “a very rare form.” It was not clear what hospital Retton was in.
Kelley, who was a gymnast at Louisiana State University, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, another daughter, Shayla Kelley Schrepfer, released a video on Instagram thanking people for “all the love and support that you’ve given to my mom.”
“She’s still fighting,” Schrepfer said. “It’s going to be a day-by-day process, and we hope that you guys will respect her boundaries, as we want to keep the details between her and our family right now. She has been treated with the best of the best professionals here, and it has been such a blessing to have their hands on her.”
At the 1984 Olympics, Retton became the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal or any individual Olympic medal in gymnastics. Going into the final rotation of the competition, she was five-hundredths of a point behind Romania’s Ecaterina Szabo, and the only way she could beat Szabo was to score a perfect 10 on vault.
Retton scored a perfect 10.
She won five medals in Los Angeles, including two silvers, for team and vault, and two bronzes, for uneven bars and floor exercise.
Though there was an asterisk by Retton’s victory in the history books — the Soviet Union, which was the most dominant force in women’s gymnastics at the time, boycotted the 1984 Games — it nonetheless made her a sports hero in the United States. In addition to earning her the traditional trappings of Olympic gold, like appearing on a Wheaties box, she was widely viewed as an inspiration to a new generation of American girls entering gymnastics.
Even as the American gymnastics program grew and the country won more medals, including the team gold in 1996, Retton’s prominence remained: For 20 years, Retton, now 55, was the only American woman to win the all-around title, until Carly Patterson became the second in 2004.
Retton was born in Fairmont, W.Va., and got her start early, like many top gymnasts. By the time Retton was 7 years old, she was training in gymnastics full-time.
Retton’s talent had been apparent from the start, but a big break came at an Olympics elimination tournament in Reno, Nev., in 1982, where she impressed Bela Karolyi, who would go on to coach her in the 1984 Olympics.
“I immediately recognized the tremendous physical potential of this little kid,” Karolyi said in a March 1984 interview.
Retton appeared in a number of films and TV shows in the late 1980s and 1990s, including the comedy film “Scrooged.”
After her athletic career, Retton became a motivational speaker to promote the benefits of proper nutrition and regular exercise.
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