Marla Murphy was a newlywed and 19 when multiple sclerosis dimmed the vision in her left eye.
"I could see," she says, "but it was like the room was dark. I thought I needed glasses."
The doctor told her otherwise. She had optic neuritis, an inflammation of the optic nerve -- in her case, a symptom of MS. And she was lucky. With treatment, her eyesight came back.
Murphy, 42, has relapsing-remitting MS, the most common form of this complicated disease that afflicts millions of people around the world. She volunteers to help find a cure through such projects as the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's fundraising gala, "A Vintage Affair for MS," Sept. 25 in Little Rock.
"You lose a function, then you gain it back," she says, describing the way MS troubles her. The same vision problem happened in her right eye more recently, but treatment worked again.
"To look at me," she says, "you'd never know I have it."
Her appearance is clear-eyed and accomplished: a doctor of physical therapy, she operates her own clinic in Benton. But the illness affects her in many ways -- one being the fatigue that she hides. Another is the knowledge that MS can be a crippler.
For some patients, "you don't regain what you lose," she says. "Some people don't hear again. Some people don't walk again."
MS shaped her decision to specialize in physical therapy. It set her goal -- to be "the MS therapist in the state."
And it led her to volunteer for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in Arkansas, serving on the state leadership council.
"We promote awareness and raise funds," she says.
For all the damage it does, MS is practically invisible. It attacks the central nervous system. No one symptom defines it -- a range from tingling to paralysis. Some people don't know they have it, even as the illness worsens.
"I knew I had it," Murphy says. But it was four years after the first sign that she received "the official diagnosis."
The MS society estimates 6,800 Arkansans are affected by the disease, and 3,000 have been diagnosed.
Fundraising enables the 68-year-old society's role in education, advocacy, support and research. The MS society claims a central part in "virtually every major breakthrough in treating and understanding the disease."
The work is serious, but this month's fundraising gala is an opportunity to have fun.
"A Vintage Affair for MS," the second annual, will be Sept. 25 at Next Level Events in Little Rock, honoring Rex Kyle, Bank of the Ozarks president of trust and wealth management.
Tickets are $100 a person for the business casual evening of wine tasting, a wine pull, music, catering, and live and silent auctions. Last year's affair raised $56,000, Murphy says. This year's goal is $100,000.
"It's a great event," she promises.
She can't help having MS, but "I don't dwell on it," she says. A party is a party, and "I like to buy a new dress."
BETTER THINGS TO DO
Murphy remembers her diagnosis of MS in 1997 or '98, about that time. The remissions make it possible for her to forget a little, let the date slide.
"I'm really fortunate," she says. "I know people who remember the exact minute of the day they got their diagnosis."
MS strikes in three other forms: secondary-progressive, primary-progressive and progressive-relapsing. In these elevations, the disease does not "flare up" and subside as it does in Murphy's case. It becomes a daily obstacle.
Some tiring days she blames on the pressures of being a business owner. Exceptional Physical Therapy in Benton is her clinic in partnership with Carrie Johnson. Some days, any normal person feels worn out. But maybe the feeling is MS doing bad business on her, and then what? Then all the more reason to "get in there," she says, "and work through it."
"I'm not scared," she tells her MS patients, using her own condition as a way to connect with them.
A physical therapist encounters "every personality type," Murphy says. Her job is to help people improve and regain the use of muscles, nerves and bones that don't want to cooperate.
"Some people come through the door hurting so much," she says, pain is all they show. Some are so cheery, they make her feel better.
"I want to be a friend to people," Murphy says, "but also, I have to push them a little to get them to where they need to be."
"A Vintage Affair for MS" will be at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at Next Level Events in the Historic Union Station, Little Rock. Sponsorships start at $500. More information is available at avintageaffairms.org or by calling (501) 663-6767.
High Profile on 09/14/2014