Gallery - Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals

"We must make everyone understand how this disease works, how it affects us and learn to ask for help."

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Sonia

Age: 23
Hometown: Toledo, Spain
Onset of symptoms: 2003
First symptom experienced: Vision loss
Diagnosed: 2004
Started treatment: 2005

"Luckily my first impressions of MS are now all in the past … I can still see the future. I hope to enjoy the good things in life."

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Percy

Age: 52
Hometown: São Paulo, Brazil
Onset of symptoms: 1992
First symptom experienced: Vision loss
Diagnosed: 1999
Started treatment: 2000

"I´m still the same person I have always been. I have learned to cope with MS."

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Loiuse P.

Age: 27
Hometown: Gosforth, Newcastle, England
Onset of symptoms: 2004
First symptom experienced: Loss of control in legs, flashes of light and vision loss
Diagnosed: 2004
Started treatment: 2004

"MS is unpredictable, but thanks to my treatment, I no longer feel preoccupied with the disease. It has reduced my anxiety about the future."

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Kyoko

Age: 34
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Onset of symptoms: 1993
First symptom experienced: Numbness in left shoulder
Diagnosed: 1993
Started treatment: 2001

"I try to live my life to the fullest. You never know what the future may hold."

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Jan

Age: 39
Hometown: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Onset of symptoms: 1999
First symptom experienced: Loss of vision in his left eye
Diagnosed: 1999
Started treatment: 1999

"MS has changed my life in the sense that I´m living more consciously now and I’m creating a more interesting life for myself. I do everything a bit more slowly, but with the same energy."

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Hans-Dieter

Age: 45
Hometown: Filderstadt, Germany
Onset of symptoms: 2003
First symptom experienced: Loss of vision, pain in the eyes and numbness
Diagnosed: 2004
Started treatment: 2004

"I can still live a reasonably full life. I really enjoy having that hope"

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Julie

Age: 46
Hometown: Devon, United Kingdom
Onset of symptoms: 1996
First symptom experienced: Blurred vision and weakness in arms and legs
Diagnosed: 1996
Started treatment: 2001

"Sometimes the disease tries to take control, but I am the boss. It is, and will be, a part of me, but I see my future as I would surely have seen it without MS."

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Tarja

Age: 45
Hometown: Pirkkala, Finland
Onset of symptoms: 1991
First symptom experienced: Numbness, tingling, stiffness and loss of sensation
Diagnosed: 1993
Started treatment: 1997

"It isn’t easy to accept that you have an incurable disease…but I´m fairly optimistic. I told myself that I must not give up, that I must fight."

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Blanka

Age: 34
Hometown: Prague, Czech Republic
Onset of symptoms: 2000
First symptom experienced: Fatigue, loss of concentration and weakness
Diagnosed: 2000
Started treatment: 2001

"Life is beautiful. It is great to be alive, no matter what life throws at me."

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Kürsat

Age: 37
Hometown: Istanbul, Turkey
Onset of symptoms: 2002
First symptom experienced: Weakness in the legs and dizziness
Diagnosed: 2002
Started treatment: 2004

"Do your best, and take each day as it comes. I´d like to tell people they must not give up"

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Eveline

Age: 43
Hometown: Bünzen, Switzerland
Onset of symptoms: 2000
First symptom experienced: Loss of vision
Diagnosed: 2001
Started treatment: 2001

"I´ve learned to cope with the reality of my situation and to be thankful for what I have."

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Ji-Hyun

Age: 54
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Onset of symptoms: 1998
First symptom experienced: Numbness and general discomfort
Diagnosed: 1998
Started treatment: 1999

"This is another life for me – not the one I imagined, but it is beautiful."

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Lucy

Age: 44
Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico
Onset of symptoms: 1986
First symptom experienced: Prickly sensations in palms and feet, numbness and eyesight problems
Diagnosed: 1992
Started treatment: 1995

"MS isn´t a disease quite like any other, but it´s still possible to carry on with your life. I still take part in and enjoy the same things I did before diagnosis."

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Matthias

Age: 31
Hometown: Toulouse, France
Onset of symptoms: 2002
First symptom experienced: Paralysis of the right foot
Diagnosed: 2002
Started treatment: 2003

"I have confidence in the future. I feel stronger and really love my life."

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Svetlana

Age: 35
Hometown: Moscow, Russia
Onset of symptoms: 1992
First symptom experienced: Numbness down right side of body, weakness in legs and loss of coordination
Diagnosed: 1992
Started treatment: 1996

"I have made great strides in getting my life back together. The dreams that I thought were lost are becoming a reality. My motto now is: ´One Life…One Chance…One Hope.´"

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Fred

Age: 43
Hometown: Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Onset of symptoms: 1985
First symptom experienced: Numbness and tingling
Diagnosed: 1987
Started treatment: 1987

"Yes, MS has changed my life enormously – but I have found that many of the positive things in my life remain. I now live my life much more intensely than I did seven years ago."

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Waltraud

Age: 29
Hometown: Wiener Neustadt, Austria
Onset of symptoms: 1999
First symptom experienced: Blurred vision and numbness in the legs
Diagnosed: 1999
Started treatment: 2000

"This disease will not prevent me from doing whatever I have to do. If something happens to me, then I´ll adapt, and keep on living my life."

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Tiago

Age: 25
Hometown: Lisbon, Portugal
Onset of symptoms: 2005
First symptom experienced: Hearing loss and dizziness
Diagnosed: 2006
Started treatment: 2006