A joyful heart
May 25, 2010A joyful heartWoman with MS cherishes each day
BY MARY KAY SWEIKARCommercial-News
DANVILLE — Carol Page of Danville has lived with multiple sclerosis for more than 35 years. For the last eight years she’s been confined to a wheelchair, and she has little use of her hands anymore.
“But I’m thankful for so many things,” Carol said. “I’m glad that I found out about my MS at age 22 because that motivated me to hurry up and do all the things that I wanted to do. So many people put off their ‘bucket list’ because they feel they have a lot of time left.
“And today I have wonderful memories of all the things that I got to do in my life,” she said in a pleasant, matter of fact tone. “I have no regrets.”
Carol’s husband, Don, is the primary caregiver for his wife.
“I’m just thankful that Carol’s MS hasn’t affected her speech, and her mind is still good,” he said. “We can still talk about everything, and she still has her sense of humor.”
There are only a couple things that Carol wishes she had done before MS “pulled the rug from under me,” as she puts it.
“We always wanted a house full of kids,” she said. “We had a boy and then a girl soon after we married in 1972, but my doctor told me I shouldn’t have any more children.
“But wouldn’t you know it, nowadays, doctors are saying that pregnancy is good for women with MS.”
Also, Carol and Don had planned a Caribbean cruise for their 30th anniversary, but they backed out when they found out all the obstacles that stood in their way.
“First of all, Carol can’t fly, so it would be a problem even getting to where the cruise takes off,” Don said. “People don’t realize how inaccessible so many places still are for handicapped people.”
Don still takes Carol
to Immanuel Lutheran Church on some Sundays and to medical appointments in Champaign. They also like to eat out in local restaurants.
Carol loves to have visitors, and some women from the church bring her lunch occasionally. She enjoys listening to mystery novels on tape and to classical music CDs. “My latest challenge is learning how to use the voice activation feature on my computer,” she said.
Carol also enjoys watching the variety of birds out her front window when they come to the feeders.
About family
Carol grew up in southern Illinois and moved to St. Louis after she started dating Don.
“At that time my Mom and Don worked at the same hospital in St. Louis,” Carol said, “and she found him for me.”
The couple was officially engaged in the hallway of the hospital where Don worked.
“He was going away to a conference, and we wanted to tie the knot before he left town,” she said, smiling.
The Page family moved to Danville in 1993 so Don could take a job as manager of microbiology at Provena United Samaritans Medical Center. He left the hospital and took a job in the same position four years ago at the Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care Center.
Carol worked some years as a receptionist for a chiropractor, and she also volunteered in the Faith in Action office.
Artist, musician
Carol has enjoyed art as far back as she can remember. She’s a self-taught artist and has created beautiful landscapes through the years with oils and charcoal and pencil.
Her favorite hobby is counted cross-stitch, and she has many intricately stitched pictures hanging on the walls of her home. She also took a couple of awards in cross-stitch competitions while she still lived in southern Illinois.
Carol became an excellent pianist after taking lessons for many years. She played the organ in church and especially enjoyed playing for weddings. She remembers when her father would sing at weddings and she would accompany him. Carol also was the choir director at one of her former churches.
The Page family has traveled extensively during the years, and they especially enjoyed camping and hiking through Navajo Indian country in the Southwest.
Tough years
During the past 10 years, Carol’s MS symptoms have gotten progressively worse, and the last two years have been pretty tough on the whole family.
“They say I’m in the final stages of the disease,” she said. “There aren’t many people my age who have MS and are still around.
“When I got my MS diagnosis shortly after our daughter was born, I felt like I had been hit in the head with a 2-by-4 board,” she said. “I was tired a lot and had minor symptoms throughout my adult life, but I was determined not to let the MS slow me down.”
“She’s done really well in coping with the disease,” Don said. “We just take one day at a time and we’ve learned to live this way through the years.”
In his free time, Don enjoys landscaping and working in his vegetable garden. The couple’s daughter, Lori, works nights, so she is asleep at home in the daytime in case Carol needs her help. Their son, Garrett, and his wife and son live in southern Illinois.
Carol has many fond memories of the days when she could express herself through her artwork. The last cross-stitch piece that she made — more than six years ago with the help of a friend — reads, “My heart sings with joy with every stitch I take.”
That’s exactly how Carol feels about every new day that she is given.
FYI
Carol Page is exhibiting some of her artwork and counted cross-stitch through the end of May on the first floor of the Danville Public Library, 319 N. Vermilion St.