http://www.gazette.com/stories/0127torch3.php
Jan 29, 2002
Fans of TV's "The West Wing" see
one; Martin Sheen plays a U.S. president affected, but only slightly, by
the disease.
Kathy Schubarth shows another face
of MS; diagnosed eight years ago, the 41-year-old Springs woman relies
on an electric wheelchair to get around. Her speech is slow, though her
wit is quick. Asked if she was athletic before the MS struck, she replies
with a definite no: "If I thought of exercising, I'd lie down until that
feeling passed."
MS is a chronic, often disabling
disease of the central nervous system. Colorado, for unknown reasons, has
one of the highest rates in the country. The progress, severity and symptoms
vary.
Schubarth's courage in fighting the
disease led brother Frank Strainis to nominate her.
"It kills me to see her like she
is, and me being so far away," said Strainis, who lives in Indiana. Whenever
he talks to his sister, though, she is upbeat. At a family gathering last
fall, she was determined not to let her condition affect the others' plans.
"We would have drag races in her
wheelchair," Strainis said. "It was like, 'OK, so what, I've got this.
Here's my wheelchair. Let's set up an obstacle course and go racing with
it.'"
Kathy, he said, was practically his
best friend as they grew up.
"The main reason I nominated her
is just because of who she is. ... I just find it so great that she's not
letting this beat her."
Schubarth was surprised to learn
her brother considers her an inspiration. She also was surprised when the
letter came telling her she had been chosen as a torchbearer; Strainis
hadn't told her of the nomination.
That positive attitude her brother
so admires doesn't come easily, Schubarth said. "You have to really try."
She did go through a period of self-pity.
"It's like a stage of death. But you have to pull yourself up."
Kathy and her husband, Darren, are
parents of a 13-year-old boy, Wesley. All are big Olympics fans. They've
begun cutting out articles on the torch relay for a scrapbook that will
chronicle Kathy's moment of Olympic glory, which will be on North Academy
Boulevard on Thursday afternoon.
"I just can't wait," she said. "It
can't come soon enough."
Bill Radford; The Gazette
Multiple sclerosis has many faces.
(C) 2002 The Gazette