WEBVTT 00:00:00.487 --> 00:00:02.310 [Hangout Junkie] Welcome to "Inspiring People" 00:00:02.310 --> 00:00:07.131 Today, we have Chloe Cohen, who is going to tell us an inspiring story 00:00:07.131 --> 00:00:13.264 of her struggle and how she has been dealing with Multiple Sclerosis for many years, now. 00:00:13.756 --> 00:00:15.725 Chloe, you are on. 00:00:16.285 --> 00:00:19.059 [Chloe Cohen] Hi, everybody. My name is Chloe 00:00:19.059 --> 00:00:24.620 and I've been living with Multiple Sclerosis for about 14 years, now. 00:00:25.328 --> 00:00:32.561 I was 20 years old when I was diagnosed and for me it was very quick - it was not - 00:00:33.192 --> 00:00:39.204 Most people generally have symptoms and then slowly, more shit starts happening, 00:00:39.204 --> 00:00:40.504 and then they are diagnosed. 00:00:40.504 --> 00:00:50.011 But for me, I hit my head real hard, and that head trauma caused symptoms pretty much instantly. Errh.. 00:00:50.795 --> 00:00:52.265 [HJ] Oh, it's not genetic? 00:00:53.295 --> 00:00:58.729 [Cohen] They don't know. They still don't know if it's genetic, environmental or anything. 00:00:58.729 --> 00:01:01.176 So they're still trying to figure out that out. 00:01:01.176 --> 00:01:13.631 But - Yeah, nobody in my family has it, but like, one of the girls that I know with MS, her sister has it, 00:01:14.123 --> 00:01:16.777 and then, this other girl, her father has it. 00:01:16.777 --> 00:01:26.529 So I don't know. I don't know if it's genetic or not. I don't think they know, but I will say this: 00:01:26.529 --> 00:01:34.038 when I was diagnosed 14 years ago, there were 3 drugs available to slow down the progression of the disease. 00:01:34.038 --> 00:01:38.464 Now, I think I should start by explaining what MS is. 00:01:38.464 --> 00:01:44.029 And that is a neurological disease that affects the central nervous system, 00:01:45.582 --> 00:01:52.579 with a wide, wide, wide range of symptoms, from numbness and tingling 00:01:52.579 --> 00:02:01.362 to blindness in an eye, to the loss o use of limbs, to chronic pain. 00:02:01.777 --> 00:02:06.664 And every single person with the illness is different, and how it affects them. 00:02:06.664 --> 00:02:10.644 And there is no two people who deal with it in exactly the same way. 00:02:11.613 --> 00:02:20.531 But before these drugs came out, there was no way to slow the progression of the illness. 00:02:20.531 --> 00:02:26.718 So that's why there is such an older generation of people with MS in wheelchairs, 00:02:26.718 --> 00:02:33.010 because they didn't have the benefits of these drugs that slow the progression, 00:02:33.010 --> 00:02:42.341 because it is constantly flowing, you never know what's going to happen today, you know, 00:02:42.341 --> 00:02:46.379 I've been now in remission for four years, and it's like a new life, 00:02:46.379 --> 00:02:53.262 because for 9 years of my life, it was this up and down thing of what's going to happen tomorrow, 00:02:53.262 --> 00:02:59.664 what - is this symptom not going to be here tomorrow, or what's going to happen tomorrow? 00:02:59.664 --> 00:03:04.102 So I very much learned how to [coughs] - excuse me - live win the moment. 00:03:04.102 --> 00:03:07.479 not worry about the future as much. 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:12.987 But it's only because I went through all that, that brought me to this point. 00:03:13.033 --> 00:03:21.864 But I'm definitely a lucky one. I was very disabled initially. 00:03:21.864 --> 00:03:29.482 When I hit my head, it basically just jarred everything loose that was loose . 00:03:29.482 --> 00:03:36.244 I probably had, you know, when I look back at my childhood before I even had MS, 00:03:36.244 --> 00:03:40.844 I can recall things that happened during that, you know, that were like, 00:03:40.844 --> 00:03:44.963 my feet would go numb in the shower in high school. 00:03:44.963 --> 00:03:48.537 But I didn't even consider it, because they'd come back to life, you know. 00:03:49.414 --> 00:03:55.244 Only until I was diagnosed with MS did I go "Huh, maybe that was connected", you know, 00:03:55.244 --> 00:03:59.979 But, you know, I don't know - I don't know. 00:03:59.979 --> 00:04:09.398 In my - in my theory, I've probably had this since I was born and it probably came up all through my life. 00:04:09.398 --> 00:04:15.308 But I didn't get that diagnosis untill I initially hit my head 00:04:15.308 --> 00:04:22.279 and had this like fast bang: I can't use my left side, it was all - I had that constant tremor, 00:04:23.941 --> 00:04:28.215 I had vertigo, so it was like being wasted drunk all the time, 00:04:28.215 --> 00:04:32.973 but you're not drunk, so you didn't get the benefit of the drunkenness [laughs], 00:04:32.973 --> 00:04:35.660 you just got the bad stuff. 00:04:36.891 --> 00:04:40.295 [HJ] Did you suffer from ithereally bad, symptoms? 00:04:41.941 --> 00:04:48.693 [Cohen] Luckily, it was only about, maybe, 6 months to a year, where it was really bad. 00:04:49.231 --> 00:04:53.925 I was lucky because, you know, as soon as they discovered that it was MS, 00:04:53.925 --> 00:05:00.829 and I got put on medication and really the only thing that they have, it was steroids and steroids 00:05:01.552 --> 00:05:06.332 will calm the inflammation or whatever that's happening. 00:05:06.578 --> 00:05:14.579 So, getting on am oral dose of steroids relieved my tremor relatively 00:05:15.256 --> 00:05:21.877 and I was on - about some other drugs, there is this drug called antivir, 00:05:21.877 --> 00:05:27.346 And I don't even know what the heck it is, but it was something like working out, straightening you out. 00:05:27.346 --> 00:05:33.664 So, I didn't have vertigo anymore. So, I give credits to the medical establishment 00:05:33.664 --> 00:05:39.831 for having these drugs available, but it never was quite enough. 00:05:39.831 --> 00:05:46.164 And I found marijuana to be one of the only things that relieved me from these constant annoyances. 00:05:47.810 --> 00:05:52.413 It - at least, it brought me to a more accepting place, I guess you could say, 00:05:52.413 --> 00:05:59.533 where it's like "OK, if I have to deal with this 24/7, then I can, you know, 00:05:59.533 --> 00:06:06.841 as much physically as the marijuana was doing, the cannabis was doing, 00:06:06.841 --> 00:06:10.962 of calming my tremors and taking away my disconfort. 00:06:10.962 --> 00:06:16.898 It was also bringing psychological relief that "You know what? I can handle this and deal with this". 00:06:16.898 --> 00:06:22.421 And this is my life, and I'll move - I'll not worry about the future so much. 00:06:23.652 --> 00:06:33.183 But my story really is important because, you know, within 20 minutes, my life slipped . 00:06:33.844 --> 00:06:38.715 I had hit my head and I couldn't use my left side, and I was a cellist. 00:06:38.746 --> 00:06:42.346 This is what I was going to college for. I was going to study music, 00:06:42.346 --> 00:06:47.832 I was going to be in, like a rock band, rock n' roll on the cello, you know? 00:06:47.848 --> 00:06:57.513 That's what I thought. But then what's, you know. Yeah, I had to reramp my life. 00:06:57.513 --> 00:07:02.267 My life and, you know, and I was very angry for a very long time, 00:07:02.267 --> 00:07:06.906 because I think anyone who've got their passion worked from (?) that quickly (7:07) 00:07:06.906 --> 00:07:15.354 Anybody who ha any kind of instant loss knows, appreciates every little thing a little bit more, 00:07:15.354 --> 00:07:18.885 because you know what it's like to lose it. 00:07:18.885 --> 00:07:26.885 And i think it took me a lot of, a lot of therapy and a lot of, like, 00:07:26.885 --> 00:07:32.579 awesome conversations with people who get it, to be able to be at this point. 00:07:33.148 --> 00:07:38.344 But I did start a support group here, eight years ago, for younger people with MS, 00:07:38.344 --> 00:07:43.523 because all the support groups were full of old, bitter, angry people 00:07:43.523 --> 00:07:51.635 because they never got the benefit of the medication until, maybe, you know,15 years into their MS game 00:07:51.635 --> 00:07:56.898 and it has done - it has taken its toll already, so there is always so much - 00:07:58.975 --> 00:08:02.441 there is no repair of what 's been taken away. 00:08:02.441 --> 00:08:06.667 You know, they don't, they haven't - they're working on it, how to, you know, 00:08:06.667 --> 00:08:10.064 - figuring out ways to repair that myeline that's torn. 00:08:10.064 --> 00:08:17.015 Because when you have myeline - I left this major point out - you've lesions on your brain. 00:08:17.015 --> 00:08:23.913 So those lesions then form symptoms in whatever region of the brain they^re covering. 00:08:24.715 --> 00:08:34.667 Yet - but the disease is the demyelinization of your nerves, 00:08:34.667 --> 00:08:39.336 and that's what causes them to be set on i(?) mproperly, and things. 00:08:39.367 --> 00:08:43.267 So when you have a mass of nerves, no myeline now on your nerves (? - 8:43) 00:08:43.267 --> 00:08:47.429 and the messages get screwed up. 00:08:47.936 --> 00:08:54.185 But what I have learned after not walking, to be where I am at now, 00:08:54.185 --> 00:08:59.579 there is no way I could have done that without the concepts of neuroplasticity. 00:08:59.579 --> 00:09:07.415 And I think that's so important, like, our brains are so powerful and we are capable of anything, 00:09:07.415 --> 00:09:13.099 anything if you put your mind to it, and what I have proved to myself as well as, 00:09:13.929 --> 00:09:19.067 I guess, if the medical establishment would have studied me [laughs] 00:09:19.067 --> 00:09:21.605 But there is no study of me, you know, 00:09:21.605 --> 00:09:25.246 though what I have done is really carve new pathways in my brain. 00:09:25.246 --> 00:09:28.395 So now I'm using my left hand and it's never going to be the same, 00:09:28.395 --> 00:09:36.566 I'm never going to be able to play the cello like I did but at the same time, I can use it now. 00:09:36.566 --> 00:09:42.215 I mean, in all these 9 years, I didn't use it, and it's only through this, like, persistence I have, 00:09:42.215 --> 00:09:49.964 of exercising, pushing myself. And I think it helps bcause I was an athlete before I got MS. 00:09:49.964 --> 00:09:54.962 So I had this like, competitive "I'm hard-ass" kind of thing in me (laughs). 00:09:54.962 --> 00:10:01.495 Because I played soccer for many years, and we were really good, you know, our team was good, 00:10:01.495 --> 00:10:13.146 and so I have that - that hard-ass attitude of just like keep pushing, keep pushing. 00:10:13.146 --> 00:10:17.913 and the hard part with MS is, like, your energy is greatly depleted. 00:10:17.913 --> 00:10:23.538 And I know for me, an a lot of people, when they are first diagnosed with the illness, 00:10:23.538 --> 00:10:27.877 they can't do this stuff the same way they did it before, 00:10:27.877 --> 00:10:34.933 they have to figure out how to adapt to this new world of not being able to do things yourself. 00:10:35.348 --> 00:10:41.036 And when you are as stubborn and hard-ass that I was, there was no way, 00:10:41.036 --> 00:10:44.246 and how I was going to have to ask someone to change my light bulb, 00:10:44.246 --> 00:10:48.859 but it was at a point where I had that, so the light bulb would not get changed 00:10:48.859 --> 00:10:51.244 if I didn't ask someone to do it for me. 00:10:51.244 --> 00:10:57.179 And what I also had to realize is that generally, people like helping other people. 00:10:57.179 --> 00:11:01.264 It gives them a sense of, self-sense of worth, you know? 00:11:01.264 --> 00:11:07.646 And where I looked at it like, it's a downfall for me that I can't do myself, do it myself, 00:11:08.169 --> 00:11:14.452 what they're getting from it is like, "We like helping people, I like it, it makes me feel better about myself". 00:11:14.505 --> 00:11:19.418 And I know, you know, when I can help people with stuff that they don't know anything about, 00:11:19.418 --> 00:11:26.095 whether being DJing music technology, or MS for that matter, you know, 00:11:26.095 --> 00:11:30.421 it feels good to know that, like, I have something to give these people 00:11:30.421 --> 00:11:37.167 and so, like, for many years, I beat myself up being like, "Well, I can't do it myself, grrrr" 00:11:37.167 --> 00:11:43.959 But that attitude really got in the way of my growth, you know, I think you really have to learn that. 00:11:47.090 --> 00:11:54.632 I don't even know, I think I am lucky that I was able to adapt successfully. 00:11:54.632 --> 00:12:00.214 You know, I've reached a point now that the MS isn't ............. life 00:12:00.214 --> 00:12:03.895 which it was, for many, many years, ten years. 00:12:04.479 --> 00:12:09.975 And it was like that was every, everything I did, it was about MS. 00:12:09.975 --> 00:12:14.721 It was about having - First of all, graduating college: I mean I had to - 00:12:14.736 --> 00:12:18.177 I couldn't be the music major, because I couldn't even play anymore. 00:12:18.177 --> 00:12:21.733 So I changed into - speech communications major 00:12:21.733 --> 00:12:28.977 because I wanted to learn how to affect people effectively (laughs) with my words, 00:12:28.977 --> 00:12:33.446 and let them hear me, and not sign off. 00:12:33.446 --> 00:12:38.264 So, I thought it was important to learn the art of communication 00:12:38.264 --> 00:12:42.520 and how to communicate effectively, to affect people. 00:12:42.520 --> 00:12:46.864 And I think I did that really well, and I know I'm doing it really well, 00:12:46.864 --> 00:12:53.246 because my story is special and unique in the sense that it happened so quickly. 00:12:53.246 --> 00:13:03.085 But if you - if there's a will, there's a way. I mean, the fact that I couldn't walk and I went skiing 00:13:03.085 --> 00:13:06.910 and now I'm riding an elliptical machine. what the hell! 00:13:06.910 --> 00:13:11.990 Excuse me, but like, it's .............. it's just mind-blowing to me (13:12) 00:13:11.990 --> 00:13:16.713 Everyday, it's a mind-blowing experience like, brushing my teeth in the morning. 00:13:16.713 --> 00:13:19.777 I could never do that with two hands, and now I can. 00:13:19.777 --> 00:13:24.748 And so every morning, when I brush my teeth, I'm like, "Hell yeah, I'm doing this", 00:13:24.748 --> 00:13:28.815 and that' just a little thing, but it's like, I appreciate that stuff. 00:13:28.815 --> 00:13:32.215 Tie my shoes? Couldn't tie them for a good nine years. 00:13:32.215 --> 00:13:40.018 So now, I tie my shoes and I'm proud to tie my shoes, you know, it's appreciating those little things. 00:13:40.048 --> 00:13:43.579 And I wouldn't have had that perspective, I wouldn't have known this, 00:13:43.579 --> 00:13:49.475 I wouldn't be inline (?) this much (13:45) without the losses that I've had. 00:13:49.475 --> 00:13:52.032 And I really say, I thing Ram Dass said it, 00:13:52.032 --> 00:13:58.164 that, you know, through his strokes, this brought him closer to enlightenment. 00:13:58.179 --> 00:14:00.913 Because now he had a new perspective, you know, 00:14:00.913 --> 00:14:05.013 now he saw what it was like, you know, on the other side, or whatever. 00:14:05.490 --> 00:14:12.413 And I think it's been my duty to kind of let people look through a different lens for a minute 00:14:12.413 --> 00:14:15.779 and see, you know, look at themselves. 00:14:17.702 --> 00:14:24.811 In that regard, I mean, most people don't ever think about things like that happening, you know. 00:14:24.811 --> 00:14:29.777 But the fact is, they do and it could happen to any of us at any moment. 00:14:29.777 --> 00:14:37.048 Yet we are so concerned about the future, or so stuck on the past, that we're not living in the moment. 00:14:37.048 --> 00:14:43.508 And like, right now, I'm appreciating this moment, to be able to speak freely 00:14:44.400 --> 00:14:49.279 and let people know they've just got to appreciate what they have a little more. 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:53.666 Because, people, you really don't know what you have until you lose it. 00:14:53.666 --> 00:14:58.031 And I think it's so important for people to appreciate what they have. 00:14:58.031 --> 00:15:03.457 And you're never going to - hopefully, you'll never have to go through that, 00:15:03.457 --> 00:15:06.817 of learning what it's like to lose all that stuff, 00:15:06.817 --> 00:15:12.721 because it's not easy, and it was only through some intense EMDR therapy 00:15:12.721 --> 00:15:19.029 which is eye-movement therapy, that I got peace with the fact that I can't play the cello 00:15:19.029 --> 00:15:23.254 like, you know, a symphony cellist anymore, you know? 00:15:23.838 --> 00:15:32.308 But it - that is some intense stuff., for anybody ........... trauma (15:29), it's mainly for trauma. 00:15:32.308 --> 00:15:38.362 But I always thought that I didn't go through war, I didn't have some horrorific incident happen to me. 00:15:38.362 --> 00:15:43.498 But at the same time, I went there because I was in a car accident, 00:15:43.498 --> 00:15:48.210 and the car accident was because of this darned tremor (laughs) 00:15:48.210 --> 00:15:53.775 and I thought for a brief second I could use my other hand to grab something, 00:15:53.775 --> 00:15:58.636 but in that brief second, my arm jerked and whoof, there went the car and we slipped in. 00:15:58.636 --> 00:16:02.598 I lost my two dogs in the car accident. It was very traumatic. 00:16:03.198 --> 00:16:08.467 But, so I was going to go, and I was like; "I'm never driving again." 00:16:08.467 --> 00:16:11.575 After that happened, I was like: "No: screw the car." 00:16:11.575 --> 00:16:17.862 So I went into this therapy, thinking I was going to work on my driving. 00:16:17.862 --> 00:16:22.421 But what I realized was how connected it was to having MS, 00:16:22.421 --> 00:16:26.553 and the trauma that I went through with my diagnosis. 00:16:26.553 --> 00:16:31.898 Because, you know, I was only 20 years old, my brain was not yet developped. 00:16:31.898 --> 00:16:39.648 So it is pretty impactful when all you know is no longer, you know? 00:16:39.648 --> 00:16:46.279 But I'm also very thankful because I had an amazing family to help me through it all, you know, 00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:51.177 that's a key piece. But this also why I started my group. 00:16:51.177 --> 00:16:56.015 Because I don't think that anybody needs to deal with that stuff alone. 00:16:56.015 --> 00:17:01.892 And fortunately now, there is, what, seven drugs available, 00:17:01.892 --> 00:17:08.833 First there's these three that were available before, and those three were only injectables. 00:17:08.848 --> 00:17:14.579 There is no - I think now, only in the last ouple of years, I don't even now, 00:17:14.579 --> 00:17:17.113 I'm kind of happy to live (?) with the medication 00:17:17.113 --> 00:17:22.295 because my medication has worked for me the whole time and I^m really lucky. 00:17:22.295 --> 00:17:27.110 But I know that there's like one or two oral medications out now, 00:17:27.110 --> 00:17:34.482 all the rest are injectables, and that's a big deal (laughs). 00:17:34.482 --> 00:17:40.433 That's probably one of the harder things, it was having to know I'd have to get poked in my butt 00:17:40.433 --> 00:17:47.213 every four days or whatever, and you know, for a lot of these, a lot of people, 00:17:47.213 --> 00:17:51.740 it's so interesting how everybody is so different with these injections. 00:17:51.740 --> 00:17:56.531 I have one friend that is like, adamant, like "I'm never letting people do this to me. 00:17:56.531 --> 00:18:00.259 This is I have to live this for myself, it's my medication". 00:18:00.259 --> 00:18:04.379 And then there is someone like me that's like, I can't even look at the needle, 00:18:04.379 --> 00:18:07.298 so I need someone else to do this for me. 00:18:07.298 --> 00:18:14.718 And, you know, 14 years later, I still have someone else do it for me because I - 00:18:14.733 --> 00:18:18.869 any way to make it easier for yourself? 00:18:19.577 --> 00:18:27.529 If I mean I have to do injections in my butt, into muscular leg, I'm talking big needles, 00:18:27.529 --> 00:18:30.846 I don't want to see the needle, I don't even want to know. 00:18:31.631 --> 00:18:36.352 But even to this day, I don't do it myself, I have a nurse do it. 00:18:36.352 --> 00:18:39.864 I'm really good at it at this point, I mean, so much practice, 00:18:39.864 --> 00:18:47.148 and I think I have enough needles now that we are about equal on the coverage. 00:18:47.179 --> 00:18:48.648 [HJ] Wow! 00:18:48.648 --> 00:18:57.746 [Cohen] But I think, you know, you know, I'm going to promote myself and I'm a DJ. 00:18:57.746 --> 00:19:06.148 And I do - I did transform that classical skill of music into my turntablism. 00:19:06.148 --> 00:19:09.623 It's vastly different. It's a different sound. 00:19:09.623 --> 00:19:17.108 And it was a huge loss to me, to not be able to create my own sound, and even turn, you know, 00:19:17.108 --> 00:19:20.764 being on turntables, it's someone else's music that I'm playing. 00:19:20.764 --> 00:19:28.195 But what I've learned is that nobody else can make it sound the way I'm making it sound. 00:19:28.195 --> 00:19:35.631 Because it's the art of the mixer, and it's really about hearing, and the harmony. 00:19:35.631 --> 00:19:44.413 This tattoo right here represents harmony because - and I have one on the back of my neck, 00:19:44.413 --> 00:19:52.402 that was initially made out of two base clefs in a - infinity symbol, right? 00:19:52.402 --> 00:19:57.817 But the tatto artist was not a musician and he put the dots on the wrong side, 00:19:57.817 --> 00:20:02.931 and I was like, Oh, can we just like... So he just made it in the infinity symbol. 00:20:02.931 --> 00:20:08.234 But it still has the same meaning to me, and that is that the music is never lost in me, 00:20:08.234 --> 00:20:11.410 no matter if I can play that or not. 00:20:11.410 --> 00:20:14.898 I will forever hear it, I will forever feel it. 00:20:14.898 --> 00:20:20.213 And that's what I put into my turntablism, you know? 00:20:20.213 --> 00:20:25.290 I'm not a big scratcher. Oh, I must admit, the other day, I was fucking around 00:20:25.290 --> 00:20:31.210 and I scratched some of this Saudi Arabian music, and made it House: it's pretty hot. 00:20:31.218 --> 00:20:34.898 Well, you know, that was just like, I don't know if I can do that again, 00:20:34.898 --> 00:20:45.431 it was kind of in the moment, but I am able to let out my creativity through the turntables now, 00:20:45.431 --> 00:20:48.352 and it took me a long time to get to this point, 00:20:48.352 --> 00:20:54.033 but now I know that the sounds I'm creating whether - and it's all other people's music, 00:20:54.033 --> 00:20:59.217 but the way I'm manipulating their music, it's an art within itself. 00:20:59.217 --> 00:21:07.695 And I think that there's plenty of DJs these days that just use a stupid program 00:21:07.695 --> 00:21:11.887 that does it all for them, and they just click in stuff, 00:21:12.733 --> 00:21:19.597 but they've lost the art form of what it really is, and i think if you go back to, like 00:21:20.505 --> 00:21:28.862 the original people who were DJs, they were - they were musicians 00:21:28.862 --> 00:21:31.271 and they were creating their own sound, 00:21:31.271 --> 00:21:35.798 and unfortunately, technology has kind of moved faster, 00:21:35.798 --> 00:21:40.765 and so all these kids are trying to be DJs, and it's kind of funny to me, 00:21:40.765 --> 00:21:43.198 because they don't even know how to match a beat. 00:21:43.198 --> 00:21:51.431 But you know, to each their own, and I do not judge (laughs) Bullshit, I totally judge. 00:21:51.431 --> 00:21:57.087 I am - I would be the first to say that. It's like if you don't know how to match a beat, 00:21:57.087 --> 00:22:01.869 why are you even trying? But, you know, that's a whole nutter (other?) show. 00:22:01.869 --> 00:22:03.633 [They laugh] 00:22:03.633 --> 00:22:12.395 [Cohen] But I think that the message I want to leave with, I guess you could say, 00:22:12.395 --> 00:22:17.677 would be, you know, "Stay positive." That's the only way I got through all this stuff with - 00:22:17.677 --> 00:22:21.221 by staying positive, then I kept pushing, you know, it was like: 00:22:23.790 --> 00:22:28.029 "Bring it on!" - now I made a poin, might (?) bring it on, you know? 00:22:28.029 --> 00:22:31.798 What else are you going to do with me? You know, I don't really - 00:22:31.798 --> 00:22:36.229 you know, I can beat it, whatever it is, you know, and yes, I may have this illness 00:22:36.229 --> 00:22:41.191 for the rest of my life, but I'm not going to let it run me, and I'm not going to let it control me, 00:22:41.191 --> 00:22:48.313 but you know, at the same time, I say that, and there's definitely a lot of restrictions it puts on you. 00:22:48.313 --> 00:22:53.931 I mean, when you've chronic fatigue and you're sleeping 18 hours a day, you can- 00:22:53.931 --> 00:22:59.831 it's going to be hard not only to be able to hold on a job, more or less like "relationships", 00:22:59.831 --> 00:23:06.964 that's whole other ball of game. So it's like, you really have to learn how to adapt. 00:23:06.964 --> 00:23:11.195 And a lot of it is adapting to other people. 00:23:11.195 --> 00:23:17.492 Because, especially like now, even now, like, I don't look like I've an illness 00:23:17.492 --> 00:23:19.869 or anything wrong wrong with me at all. 00:23:19.869 --> 00:23:25.613 And then, I have a drink, and I look like I'm wasted. 00:23:25.613 --> 00:23:32.698 And I've been coralled (?) out of bars, even, a few months ago I got caught off at a bar, 00:23:32.698 --> 00:23:37.605 because the bartender saw me stumbling, and I was like: "But I have MS!" 00:23:37.605 --> 00:23:42.748 And it's like, I don't have it tattoed - I wear a bracelet now that says "I've MS", 00:23:42.748 --> 00:23:48.832 because I carried a card that I have MS, but this is much more like, bang! 00:23:48.832 --> 00:23:52.469 you don't have to, like, struggle, getting it out of your wallet or whatever. 00:23:52.469 --> 00:23:58.271 But, you know, it's all the invisible symptoms that nobody sees, 00:23:58.271 --> 00:24:07.146 and that's what I will make visible is that with this illness, you can't see the pain they're in, 00:24:07.146 --> 00:24:14.287 the struggles they're in, feeling like they have a tight belt around their waist, you know, 24/7, 00:24:14.287 --> 00:24:20.298 or whatever - you know, for me it was shaky arms, so you know, I - there was always tricks, 00:24:20.298 --> 00:24:22.655 there were times that I just sat on my arm. 00:24:23.255 --> 00:24:26.621 Because whenever I'd bring it out, it was like flopping in the wind. 00:24:26.621 --> 00:24:30.229 So it's - you learn tricks (laughs). 00:24:30.229 --> 00:24:37.546 But I think that a lot of people - it's - it's really hard for a lot of people, 00:24:37.546 --> 00:24:43.364 because they don't want to accept it, you know, and what is it? 00:24:43.364 --> 00:24:46.448 The 5 stages - were you a psych major? 00:24:46.448 --> 00:24:47.518 [HJ] Yeah. 00:24:47.518 --> 00:24:56.386 [Cohen] OK: spit them out: denial, anger, I don't know. What are those? All those stages you go through. 00:24:56.386 --> 00:25:06.095 You go through that stuff with MS. It's like, OK, because like that first year, I drank so much boo- 00:25:06.095 --> 00:25:11.629 so many beers because it was so much easier to say: "No, I'm just drunk", instead of 00:25:11.629 --> 00:25:15.845 "I've got this illness that's making me all uncoordinated". 00:25:15.845 --> 00:25:24.825 Alcohol was awesome for making me deny the fact that this stuff was going on - to a degree, to a degree. 00:25:24.825 --> 00:25:29.644 And then I was really angry because I was on a college campus, 00:25:29.644 --> 00:25:33.329 and everybody was so young and stupid and hadn't - 00:25:33.329 --> 00:25:35.548 .................... angry. 00:25:35.548 --> 00:25:37.998 I was like, "Everybody is stupid" [laughs]. 00:25:37.998 --> 00:25:42.195 But then, after i got over the anger, I, you know, became accepting of it 00:25:42.195 --> 00:25:48.399 and I knew that the anger wasn't getting me anywhere, any of these - 00:25:48.399 --> 00:25:56.580 or the sadness for that matter, you know, or any of these emotions, wasn't taking me to a place of peace with it.. 00:25:56.580 --> 00:26:07.278 And I really think that because of that EMDR therapy, I became at peace with it all, 00:26:07.278 --> 00:26:10.864 and it still sucks. I'm never going to say it doesn't suck, 00:26:10.864 --> 00:26:16.125 but you know, fortunately for me, the only thing that I have to deal with is injections. 00:26:16.125 --> 00:26:22.610 You know, I don't have - my tremor is calm enough now, all my symptoms are pretty regulated, 00:26:22.610 --> 00:26:28.043 I - So it's like a new lease on life, I feel. And so - 00:26:28.043 --> 00:26:29.620 [HJ] .... of MS? 00:26:29.620 --> 00:26:30.520 [Cohen] What? 00:26:30.520 --> 00:26:32.713 [HJ] Are there different types of MS? 00:26:32.713 --> 00:26:38.221 [Cohen] Yes. Thank you for asking. There are, and that's what a lot of people don't know. 00:26:38.221 --> 00:26:43.862 And the majority of people with MS have relapsing or remitting MS, 00:26:43.862 --> 00:26:48.098 which is one that comes and goes as it pleases. 00:26:48.098 --> 00:26:57.471 But these drugs prevent the quicker going downs and kind of trick the brain into the - 00:26:57.471 --> 00:27:00.415 thinking the stuff's there that isn't. 00:27:00.415 --> 00:27:08.513 But then there is the progressive and secondary progressive, which are the really debilitating kind - 00:27:08.513 --> 00:27:13.969 ah no (?), the kinds with the people in the wheelchairs, and the people that (then ?) get bedridden. 00:27:15.154 --> 00:27:17.979 And unfortunately, there is no medication for them. 00:27:17.979 --> 00:27:21.113 So for - this is my biggest concern now, 00:27:21.113 --> 00:27:26.867 because they've got all of us relapsing or remitting people pretty much under control, 00:27:26.867 --> 00:27:32.264 but it's these people that just keep getting worse and worse and worse 00:27:32.264 --> 00:27:39.459 and, you know, that's the hardest part of MS to watch or even talk about. 00:27:39.459 --> 00:27:47.215 Because, like, when I started this support group 8 years ago, 00:27:47.215 --> 00:27:50.977 there was a few people in there with progressive MS, 00:27:50.977 --> 00:27:55.113 and you know, they started coming to the meetings and they were OK, 00:27:55.113 --> 00:27:59.648 they might have had a little tremor, but we all had tremors at that point. 00:27:59.648 --> 00:28:03.856 So it was like, "Yeah, I -". But we could relate to each other, 00:28:03.856 --> 00:28:12.316 and one of these guys I got very close with, and he had progressive. Oh, he still has progressive. 00:28:12.316 --> 00:28:14.564 I should not speak of him in that way. 00:28:14.564 --> 00:28:28.482 But just the quick downfall of his system, and how it just fell apart, you know, like, 00:28:29.544 --> 00:28:32.218 so he comes to this meeting, and maybe he's got the old tremor, 00:28:32.218 --> 00:28:38.479 the next month he comes and he's got optic neuritis in one eye, one eye is just looking out that way, 00:28:38.479 --> 00:28:44.197 you know, and then it's like, bad talk (?) is another symptom. 00:28:44.197 --> 00:28:49.531 Then the next month later, he's not even walking, you know, he's using canes. 00:28:49.531 --> 00:28:53.313 And then the month after that, he's in a wheelchair. 00:28:53.313 --> 00:28:59.162 And now this guy is totally bedridden, to where his mom has to feed him and bathe him, 00:28:59.162 --> 00:29:04.112 and his independence has been taken, and it's really hard. 00:29:04.112 --> 00:29:10.821 Because then unlike - well how did I get so lucky? Why am I so lucky that I could get better? 00:29:10.821 --> 00:29:18.923 If I could just have given him half of my recovery or whatever, we'd both be in better places. 00:29:18.923 --> 00:29:26.629 But it's not how it works. But for me, that's my biggest motivation, you know, 00:29:26.629 --> 00:29:34.485 for all of these people with MS who really can't do it anymore, like I'm going to keep pushing harder, 00:29:34.485 --> 00:29:39.131 and I'm going to ride that elliptical machine, because I can, damn it. 00:29:39.131 --> 00:29:46.550 And you know, for me, that was such a huge thing, because that elliptical machine and I were enemies. 00:29:46.550 --> 00:29:55.454 We - my left and right body did not work together, that whole piece of my brain was kind of messed up, 00:29:55.454 --> 00:30:05.913 so an elliptical machine was the utter, the best example of the left and right brain working together 00:30:05.913 --> 00:30:10.113 at the same - you know, that total coordination right there. And - 00:30:10.113 --> 00:30:13.748 [HJ] Do you want to talk about what induced you to use the elliptical? 00:30:13.748 --> 00:30:15.156 [Cohen] What? 00:30:15.156 --> 00:30:17.464 [HJ] Do you want to talk about who pushed you to do the elliptical? 00:30:17.464 --> 00:30:20.730 [Cohen] Oh, my trainer! God bless my trainer! 00:30:20.730 --> 00:30:24.746 Because I met him 5 years ago, 00:30:24.746 --> 00:30:25.631 [HJ] Ah! 00:30:25.631 --> 00:30:35.290 [Cohen] and I wasn't using my left arm. I could walk but I had very little coordination and balance. 00:30:35.290 --> 00:30:40.913 So I always thought I was kind of drunk, which is fun, in public. 00:30:40.913 --> 00:30:49.446 But he understood right away that this was a neurological disease and that it wasn't about my muscles, 00:30:49.446 --> 00:30:53.775 because the trainer I had before him was like a total jerk, and he was: 00:30:53.775 --> 00:30:58.946 "I'm going to whip you into shape" and like - he definitely put some muscle on me 00:30:58.946 --> 00:31:03.195 but there was no - no pathways being carved [laughs]. 00:31:03.195 --> 00:31:09.941 So when I got this .... - this trainer, he got it and he was just challenging me 00:31:09.941 --> 00:31:19.664 with motions I hadn't been doing for 9 years, with, like, using my arm and bringing it out , 00:31:19.664 --> 00:31:25.764 and acting as if I'm lifting my dog and putting him on a shelf over here, 00:31:25.764 --> 00:31:34.421 which was a motion I didn't do, but - but from doing this, repetitively, for years, 00:31:34.421 --> 00:31:39.964 it's like now, I'm throwing medicine balls with my left hand, you know? 00:31:40.010 --> 00:31:46.044 And it's only because he's kind of a - he's an awesome trainer, because he's like - 00:31:46.044 --> 00:31:52.885 he's fun: we have fun, that's the best piece of it, you know, he makes games out of everything, 00:31:52.885 --> 00:31:58.589 and I being the athlete that I was, I wanted to be like, "No, I can do it ." 00:31:58.589 --> 00:32:02.338 he's like, "You're done, you're done!" I'm like "No! I got to do it one more time, 00:32:02.338 --> 00:32:04.515 just to prove to myself I can do it". 00:32:04.515 --> 00:32:12.753 But - so we got this elliptical machine and I just looked at it for months, 00:32:12.753 --> 00:32:17.518 like it's over there, and that's there for other people. 00:32:17.518 --> 00:32:22.643 And then finally, one day, he's like "YOu won't even try and ride this?" 00:32:22.643 --> 00:32:27.279 I was like: "Errh, I don't know, you think I can?" I mean, he has been - 00:32:28.171 --> 00:32:36.381 he got me to this point (?) and I got on, and I was riding it, and it was the weirdest feeling in the world, 00:32:36.381 --> 00:32:41.477 because both my left and right were working simultaneously together, 00:32:41.477 --> 00:32:47.592 which never happened for not in - you know - 14 years [laughs]. 00:32:47.621 --> 00:32:56.536 So yeah, it was pretty darned amazing. I was just like: "Holy -" I was freaking out. 00:32:56.536 --> 00:33:02.048 I'm surprised that I didn't start bawling in front of him. But I can - it was also awesome for him 00:33:02.048 --> 00:33:07.836 because he was like, "I'm doing my job and I'm good at it!" you know, 00:33:07.898 --> 00:33:14.123 And I have to give him credit because, you know, if I had been working out by myself all this time, 00:33:14.123 --> 00:33:17.031 I wouldn't have seen any of these improvements. 00:33:17.031 --> 00:33:22.116 But because I have this guy on my side that's like pushing me and challenging me, 00:33:22.116 --> 00:33:24.962 and keeping me motivated, 00:33:24.962 --> 00:33:30.162 that's the biggest thing, like, I've got no motivation to go to the gym, I hate the gym, 00:33:30.162 --> 00:33:36.925 you know, I don't mind going to look at the sexy men, but there's a lot more unattractive men then sexy 00:33:36.925 --> 00:33:39.749 men [they giggle], so screw that! 00:33:39.749 --> 00:33:46.668 But you know, it's really about me and my personal gain (? game?). 00:33:46.668 --> 00:33:51.795 I just feel very lucky and blessed, and I think everybody needs to kind of take - 00:33:51.795 --> 00:33:57.644 take a moment and appreciate all the things they have, until you lose it. 00:33:57.644 --> 00:34:04.829 I wish I would have known, you know. If I would have known that was going to happen to me, 00:34:04.829 --> 00:34:10.956 I probably would have been playing my cello every day, multiple times a day, and doing all this stuff. 00:34:10.956 --> 00:34:16.761 But I was just a stupid kid and I didn't realize that anything like that could ever happen. 00:34:17.669 --> 00:34:19.353 [HJ] Nobody knows, nobody. 00:34:19.353 --> 00:34:28.300 [Cohen] No, they don't, but they'd - but I - I think that I'm trying to - 00:34:28.300 --> 00:34:34.415 I'm trying to kind of change the face of MS a bit. I'm trying to show the positive side. 00:34:34.415 --> 00:34:42.659 Not all these people in wheelchairs and all negative, because that really is the older generation of MS, 00:34:42.659 --> 00:34:48.618 and it's not like that anymore. I mean, the support group that's still running, 00:34:48.618 --> 00:34:54.486 I mean there's new people coming in every months, and they are all at different levels 00:34:54.486 --> 00:34:56.910 in dealing with their illness. 00:34:56.910 --> 00:35:03.629 Some of them - there was one girl a few months ago, who hadn't even been diagnosed yet, 00:35:03.629 --> 00:35:09.146 but she knew it, because her father had MS and she - she knew. 00:35:09.669 --> 00:35:16.444 And, you know, watching her go through that whole process of getting the diagnosis, having to adapt, 00:35:16.444 --> 00:35:20.833 taking the injections, and being there, knowing that, 00:35:20.833 --> 00:35:27.272 just being able to connect with other people about it, helps so greatly, 00:35:27.272 --> 00:35:34.098 like even that - the guy with progressive MS, I think one of our most binding moments 00:35:34.098 --> 00:35:38.195 was just standing in his kitchen and he fell, and he's like: 00:35:38.195 --> 00:35:42.210 "Damn! Don't you hate it when the earth moves out from underneath you!" 00:35:42.210 --> 00:35:47.329 And I go "Oh my God! I love this guy!", like I'd experienced that too. 00:35:47.329 --> 00:35:53.139 But it's very rare that you're going to meet someone who has experienced that without being drunk, 00:35:53.139 --> 00:35:54.547 you know what I'm saying? 00:35:54.547 --> 00:36:02.226 And it's very - I know that guy and I are forever in each other's hearts, 00:36:02.241 --> 00:36:06.986 because I think we were both like the first people who had the same illness you could relate, 00:36:06.986 --> 00:36:12.241 and he was like a track star and all this before the MS affected him, 00:36:12.241 --> 00:36:21.065 So he also lost his passions but we also learned to adapt and you know, 00:36:21.065 --> 00:36:25.333 whether I was going to be this "rock star cellist)" or not, 00:36:25.333 --> 00:36:29.446 it's like, life has lead me in this direction and I can only do - 00:36:29.446 --> 00:36:36.410 go forward and spread the positive stuff, and that's what I'm trying to do, 00:36:36.410 --> 00:36:41.282 and I'm trying to affect people and let them know, "No, you're not alone. 00:36:41.282 --> 00:36:46.141 and there isn't a cure for this illness. So it would be nice if there was, you know. 00:36:46.141 --> 00:36:49.225 So help us get there and help - help" 00:36:50.671 --> 00:36:58.477 It's interesting because I think more and more, now, if I say I've MS, somebody will say; 00:36:58.477 --> 00:37:03.979 "Oh, my sister has MS - my aunt has MS". Somebody knows somebody with MS. 00:37:03.979 --> 00:37:11.702 And I'm glad that's the case, because people, you know, 14 years ago, they didn't even know what it was. 00:37:11.733 --> 00:37:19.278 And it's nice to know that people actually are getting diagnosed faster, 00:37:19.278 --> 00:37:31.088 which is helpful because they can get on drugs faster and avoid giant relapses, I guess. 00:37:31.088 --> 00:37:33.379 ............ (37:33) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] Did you have to change your diet at all? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] No [laughs] That was the one thing I was adamant about not doing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm like, "You can take away my cello, my bike, my snowboard, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can take away all those things, but I'm still eating cheese". 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Like, as long as I was healthy, and I eat well, but I never eliminated anything in my diet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because, you know, when I was first diagnosed, there were many theories, like she'd just - you know - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 would go to a vegan diet, she would never have any issues, it would help. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Or if she took all the mercury out of her fillings, because they thought that could be related, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and so it was like, all these theories 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 After I think being bombarded so young with all these theories of ways to prevent stuff from happening, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was like: "No", you know, like "Whatever I'm doing," like, "it's fine." like, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "I can't control this illness so I'm not going to change my diet if it's not really in the way." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Like, I never adapted my eating any different things - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and although at the same time, you know, a lot of people who - in the MS community - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who have, and they said it's made a huge difference. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But so, alright, I think everybody is different in that regard. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not a person to change their eating habits, just because I like to eat 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I know I don't eat really poorly, so that's good. I'm pretty healthy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I really think that exercise has been the biggest help in my treatment, in my "healing" if you will, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know? I think that's the only way I could get to this point. So... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] How did your family understand the difficulties that you are looking at in the future? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Wow! The worst was being - my mom was a therapist for many years 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and she had had a client who had MS, who was a ballerina, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then all of a sudden couldn't do ballet anymore, and so - so my mother really knew more than anybody 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (laughs) about the illness and ..... (40:09) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and at this point I think that - I'm trying to think - I think that her client probably had progressive MS 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I did not, so that was good, but so my mother knew the horrors of what this could mean 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and so, for her, it was way worse than for anyone else, because she knew all the bad stuff 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and she was like "Right, my daughter now must deal with all this." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I think in that - in those initial couple of years I got so close with them, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because they were the only support system I really had, you know, I was 18 hours a day, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was only up sporadically, and like, my friends were all turning 21 and hitting the bars, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it's like "I can't do that anymore." So I became very close to my parents. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I'm very lucky that I got this opportunity to do it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that they were cool enough to listen to me ditch as much as I did, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because I needed that. I think everybody who gets dealt a hand of cards like that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know, you got to be able to bitch, and that's mainly why I started the support group ..... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 People need a place to feel safe to bitch. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because, you know, my poor parents got to hear every little crappy thing that I felt about everything, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know, and everything turned negative, and it's all a big spiral of that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When one thing goes wrong, everything [makes sounds suggesting things disintegrating]. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And this goes on and on. But luckily, they were kindly enough to just let me bitch. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And my mom would smack some sense into me occasionally, .........(42:04) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know, but at the same time she's a brilliant mom (?). 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because, like, this Christmas when I went skiing, with my paralyzed friend, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he was like "Hem, I'm getting you on skis." I was like: "Why?" He's like: "I can do it, you can do it." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm like: "Shit! He can't even use his right side, I can do this." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So he got me on skis and it was very powerful. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But my mother was like, you know: "Well, Chloe?" I was freaking out because I'd just heard bad news 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about my one friend from the group who had progressive MS, and now used that ......... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it was really overwhelming for me. And my mother was so awesome, because she was like: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Chloe, you know, you're going to go skiing today. You can go skiing today. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I want you to go skiing and do this for people like him. Because he can't. " 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it just pushed me even further and I got out there, and I skied. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I must admit, there was a moment when I was looking up, like "Holy shit, look what the hell I'm doing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ...... God bless you, Mike (43:22)", you know, "and all of you progressive people", you know, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "I'm doing this for you, as much as myself. But, you know, because I can do, I mean, that's so cool." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [laughs] And I just - you don't know what you got until you lose it, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and be appreciative of what you got and live in the moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Those are my two parting [laughs] phrases. Appreciate what you got. And live in the moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I think if you go into life with that kind of attitude, you'll be OK. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But you also have to know shit is always going to happen, you can't control shit from happening. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But you deal with it in the moment. You don't worry about it, you deal with it in the moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So yeah. [laughs] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] That's awesome that you've made such amazing accomplishments. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Thank you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] I feel fortunate to be able to have the - the skill, I guess you could say, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of communicating about this in an effective way, without judgment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I know that I've my part in the MS - no: I'll forever do my part in the MS community, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of bringing awareness and bringing hope, because I think a lot of people forget that anything's possible, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I am proof of that, and I think, the more you can realize what you have, the better it will be? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know. I'm just babbling now [laughs] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] No! I want to share your DJ page. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Yeah. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] you can check URL on - .... you can check DJ CC and it'll come up. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Ding! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] Ah, that's here. This is Chloe's DJ page. If you go .... it's like DJ CC and it will come up. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I also - here, your "Face of MS" page. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Yes. Thank you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] Are you starting a support group on Google+ as well? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Yes, I have a disability support, which - its range is not just MS. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's deafness, mental issues, ....... and disabilities in general. (46:16) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for all the ones who want to feel, you know, like they have support 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 dealing with some kind of difference, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yeah. but it's really general, for any kind of support, but it is for, mostly, disability 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that would be any kind of disability. So... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (HJ) Awesome. You can Google Face of MS or DJ CC Boom. And now, she... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] That's my sign..... have sign. Because I've got really deaf friend, he's like: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "I got - I got a sign for you, because everybody has got the CC Boom". That's my name sign. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] You're such an amazing DJ, you caught her music. And even though it's not your own music, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the way you manipulate those sounds is just awesome. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] THat's awesome. That's what I like to hear. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ laughs] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Thank you, Candice. I really want to thank you for doing that' what you're doing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Not just for me, but I like hearing other people's stories too, you know, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I think that's important, because this - this social networking thing, this Google+ thing, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is going to be ginormous, and I think that you're starting off with a bang by doing this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're - yeah - keep it up, keep up the good work. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] Yes, it makes me even appreciate what I have, because you know, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 people get so caught up in what they don't have, you know - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Right. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] They listen (?) to the media and they just want to keep buying 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they want you to, you know, just wish you had these things, but you don't, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you know, talking with you ad other people, just make me know .... I do have a lot 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I have to be grateful for what I have - what I don't - and it's really inspiring listening to you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and your story 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Awesome] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] ...overcame that, how you just appreciate everything now. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ANd I think it happens for a reaon. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a reason for what you have, there's a reason for, for everyone's ..... in life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it just makes you that much stronger. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Definitely. No, I wouldn't be who I was if I hadn't gone through all that, you know, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I wouldn't be nearly this cool if I hadn't faced that much loss. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it's true, because I got a perspective that most people don't get in their early 20's, you know. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because I felt like I was 80 at 20, and I sort of kept - keep getting younger as I get older: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's kind of cool ]laughs]. But, you know, I could bound with my grandmother 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and try and get her to use a cane, and have actual evidence of why she should do it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and be like - and you know, that's one of the perks to anMS is that you really educate people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and make them appreciate what they have. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I think that's what I hope to do and I try to do it as often as I can. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So (signs) power to the people! [laughs] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] I hope it gives everything in your story (?) 49:46) everyone's turn and - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Awesome. That's what I hope to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] Yes, you're truly inspiring and, you know, you have a good support system 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I think that's so important for everyone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Yes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ]........................ that's really something major, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you must have a, you know, a support system. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's so important. It doesn't have to be family: friends, you have your personal trainer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who is - I think he's awesome, how he got you on that elliptical: that alone is just amazing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] Yeah. He's awesome. He's like my brother but he's not. He is my, you know, trainer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but he know- you know, he's a child of the 90's too, so he's always playing, like, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 old school 90's music, like ............ hahh 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [laughs] It's pretty cool, so we can bond over that kind of stuff. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] I want to thank you again for sharing your story and - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] My pleasure, Candice, thank you for getting my story out there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] I hope to be broadcasting this tomorrow. If anyone wants to listen, they can check it out 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I hope people check your Face of MS page and your DJ page, and see you, you know, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the way you play those sounds, it's amazing. You have to listen to it to appreciate it. [laughs] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] That's awesome. Thank you, Candice. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [HJ] Thank you, thank you again, we all appreciate- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Cohen] My pleasure.