February 23, 2022

Coffee Break with community member Chris Cerillo | S4E5

41 minutes

Chris Cerillo was diagnosed with MS in 2017, and that’s when she really decided to live her life how she wanted to. It really drove home – with the spectrum of types and prognoses – that anything can truly happen in life… we never know. So soon after this huge upheaval in her life, she began to look at both what she had to do now (like eat healthier and exercise) and what she wanted to do.

On this episode of Living Well with MS, we are pleased to welcome Chris Cerillo. So many things have happened in the past four and a half years after diagnosis that she became a different person. She is still the same in some ways, of course – a crazy cat person and a Special Olympics volunteer for instance – but she has changed fundamentally. The way she views life, with joy in the day to day and making sure those she loves know it, is now her core. Chris honestly can say that she is glad to be diagnosed with MS.

Watch this episode on YouTube here. Keep reading for the key episode takeaways.

Topics and Timestamps:

02:35 Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your life in Connecticut?

04:56 When you were diagnosed, and how you dealt with that?

10:46 What tips do you have for people newly diagnosed on how to deal with it?

12:04 Did you come across Overcoming MS straight away or was it a while after your diagnosis?

15:59 Have you found differences since you've been following Overcoming MS? Has it made a difference?

17:10 Vegan January or Veganuary, is where they try and encourage people to be vegan in January. Have you tried it?

20:47 Did you have any problems adopting the Overcoming MS program? You said you were vegan already, but what were the main obstacles to adopting the lifestyle?

24:15 Talking about stress, you've got experience in dealing with big life decisions and how that affects your MS. In your case, you decided to come out about your sexuality publicly. How did you manage to deal with that?

28:02 There are all sorts of big things that happen in life. Dealing with those things, would you say that it is that friendship group, or are there specific things you think are particularly useful to deal with big traumatic decisions and changes?

29:32 There are obvious positives for you because you're living life as you want, but in terms of your family and friendship group and things like that, have there been positives to that side of things as well?

32:39 One thing I want to ask is how you live life to the fullest as someone with MS?

34:40 What would you say to someone who's thinking, "Well, I'm not sure whether I do that, or make this change?” What would you say to encourage people to make that leap?

35:34 As a final question, can I ask what else is on your bucket list for a full life? What's a big bucket list thing?

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