My name is Dov Guggenheim. I\u2019m a 20 year old yeshiva student who loves to learn. I take an interest in nearly everything, assuming it makes me think. I\u2019m the former captain of my high school football team.<\/p>\n
I made Aliyah on my own at the age of 16 from the united states, out of deeply ingrained Zionist ideals and a clearly defined goal to make a difference and help my people. I hope to go on to university to study finance and government.<\/p>\n
I also happen to have multiple sclerosis.<\/p>\n
I was having a pretty good life. I had graduated high school with full matriculation and a major in physics. I had just started yeshiva in Ma\u2019ale Gilboa, where I was meeting inspiring teachers and students from Israel and around the world, and testing my intellectual mettle in a supremely challenging environment. I was working out regularly in preparation for a tryout to the most elite forces in the IDF (sayarot). I knew that I had both the motivation and the medical profile to serve, as a lone soldier, in one of them.<\/p>\n
Then, I started getting a weird feeling in my stomach-literally. The numbness and tingling spread throughout my body, until I could hardly walk. After about a week, I thought it might be a good idea to go to the emergency room and get whatever this was checked out.<\/p>\n
Happy birthday to me. Two days before my 19th birthday, my life changed forever. I had never heard of multiple sclerosis, and now I learned all about it, firsthand. I was released from the hospital on my birthday, but into a different world than the one I had entered from. It was darker, and for the first time in my life, I suddenly didn\u2019t quite know what I wanted, or what I would do.<\/p>\n
As anybody with MS can tell you, the first two years after diagnosis are the least stable, if not the outright hardest. After I was diagnosed, I was in an understandably depressed state. Physically, my abilities have been limited. It is safe to say that I have scored my last touchdown on the football field, and I probably will not climb Mount Everest- at least not this year. I will also not serve my country as a member of an elite fighting force.<\/p>\n
Emotionally, too, the MS took its toll, and not just on me, as my family and friends can attest. My dream of the army had crumbled, and I was from here on out, officially, a \u201ccripple.\u201d It was difficult for those around me to see someone once so physically active and brimming with potential needing help buttoning his shirts. Between repeated attacks and hospitalizations, outpatient treatments, rehab, OT, multiple medications, and the disruption to my routine, I was on a roller coaster. Obviously, all this was a bit much for a 19 year old, especially one living on his own.<\/p>\n
Another tough part of MS is learning that nothing operates in a vacuum. What I mean by this is that MS didn\u2019t just affect my body, but my entire world. Friendships were altered, confidence was shaken, dreams were shattered, and my life was not at all the same. Of course, I knew this conceptually from day one, but I internalized this lesson at quite an ironic time. After one year of MS (happy 20th birthday), I had a severe attack that left me unable to move for days. And lying in my hospital bed, I had a lot of time to think. And when I think, I write. I like to write and read poetry, and that is exactly what I did. Because I realized that although things were different, it didn\u2019t mean my situation was insurmountable. I still had so much do and accomplish – and I wasn\u2019t going to let my MS stop me. This new insight found expression in the following poem that I composed:<\/p>\n
A young man
\nFull of hopes and dreams
\nHe hops on a plane, possibilities abound
\nOr so it seems
\nThe first couple of years pass,
\nAnd it\u2019s a dream come true
\nLife is normal;
\nIn shades of white and blue.
\nHe sets goals
\nAchieves them with ease
\nHe works hard,
\nBut life is a breeze
\nThen one year comes
\nAnd it all comes crumbling down
\nHe feels no more
\nHe thinks he may drown
\nSome things go in an instant
\nSome things take time to dissipate
\nBut all things go
\nWe call it fate
\nIt ends how it started
\nThe worst one to date
\nGives time for perspective
\nHowever late
\nTime to return to what got him till here
\nTime to re-adopt an old attitude
\nDon\u2019t question yourself, don\u2019t give into fear
\nAnd absolutely do not surrender to a mood
\nIt takes a second,
\nIt takes a year
\nIt\u2019s worth a lifetime
\nThis lesson so dear
\nTrying to be strong
\nWhile feeling so weak
\nTrying to move along
\nThough the future seems bleak
\nTrying to hold it all together
\nWhile feeling so alone
\nSwearing it\u2019ll get better
\nWhile not trusting his own
\nHere he is, one year later
\nBroken, hurt, alone.
\nHere he is, one second later
\nImproved, wiser, grown.
\nA young man
\nFull of hopes and dreams
\nHe can\u2019t know what will happen
\nStill,with new possibilities, his face beams<\/p>\n
So, as you can see, I left the hospital this time with newfound determination to beat this disease. I didn\u2019t know how, or when, or if I would succeed, but I was going to try. With the help of my friends and loved ones, and of course the MS Center at Hadassah Hospital, I was going to give it my all.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to today, and I\u2019d like to believe that I\u2019m doing much better. Since that attack, I have had two more. However, even those have not stopped me from doing what I love- living. I\u2019ve switched yeshivas to be closer to the MS Center and my doctors and have met a whole new cadre of fascinating teachers and classmates. I\u2019ve given speeches to different groups of people about MS, run a 5k race, and mounted a sponsorship campaign which, through the generosity of friends around the world, raised NIS 20,000 for MS research. I\u2019ve chosen to serve in the National Service Program and been accepted to multiple positions in government; I\u2019ve rejoined a gym and resumed working out; I\u2019ve hiked with friends, in the best Israeli tradition. In sum, I\u2019ve been living a happy, fulfilling life. And I\u2019m not done learning, planning, doing, and making my mark on the world. This is just where I currently stand.<\/p>\n
This is not a blueprint for how to deal with MS. Everyone\u2019s condition is different, and therefore, so is his or her coping mechanism (although feel free to copy me- imitation is the sincerest form of flattery). I am writing this in order to drive home the message that you should never be defeated. I truly believe that until that clock strikes zero, each of us has the ability, and the responsibility, to contribute and fulfill his or her dreams. The challenges may indeed sometimes seem too damn hard, but you are stronger for them. And, as the Beatles taught, you can get by with a little help from your friends.<\/p>\n
\u05d4\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05d9\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05dc\u05d5\u05de\u05d3 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e9\u05d9\u05d1\u05d4 \u05de\u05d6\u05d4 \u05e9\u05e0\u05ea\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d9\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05d9.<\/p>\n
\u05d3\u05d1 \u05d2\u05d5\u05d2\u05e0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd<\/p>\n
\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8: \u05d0\u05e4\u05e8\u05ea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My name is Dov Guggenheim. I\u2019m a 20 year old yeshiva student who loves to learn. I take an interest in nearly everything, assuming it makes me think. I\u2019m the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[384,345],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-letters-to-the-editor"],"yoast_head":"\n