Rachel Proulx has an expansive resume, packed to the brim with impressive accomplishments. She has hosted a national conference for the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (BPW Canada), served as the national organization’s president (among other titles), spoke to delegates from more than 65 countries at the BPW International Congress, began the Coalition to End Violence Against Women, regularly does motivational speaking and is involved in Collège Boréal’s board of governors.
What makes her community work even more awe-inspiring is the fact that she does it all from an electric wheelchair.
In 1996, Proulx was diagnosed with remitting-relapsing Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
“I went from walking, to dragging my foot, to walking on my ankle and walking with a cane, to (being) able to walk at times, using a manual wheelchair ... and graduated to an electric wheelchair in 1999,” Proulx stated. It doesn’t mean she isn’t capable of standing up for what she believes in.
“If you don’t like something, get involved and change it,” she said.
It’s just what the Sudbury woman has done, put the challenges aside and made a decision to be the best she could be.
“I have to be (positive),” she said. “I cannot allow myself to be negative, but that’s my character. I always see the opportunities.”
Despite the fact she’s only able to move her left arm, she is still able to maintain her involved, engaging lifestyle, thanks to her helping husband Charlie St. Germain, as well as some assistive devices.
When she attends events as the keynote speaker, she brings her own microphone, and she converses over the phone using the speaker function.
“We don’t focus on her disabilities — we focus on her abilities,” St. Germain said.
It’s taken a considerable amount of commitment from the people around her, but St. Germain said watching his wife succeed is worth every long car ride, home renovation and tiring day spent at conferences.
“She has so much to offer,” he said. “If she stays in these four walls, it’s such a waste of life.”
Everyone with MS experiences “exacerbations” of symptoms a bit differently, but for Proulx, it often starts with her eyes. “(I see) through a fog,” she said. “It’s sometimes difficult to find clarity in it.”
There is currently no cure for the disease — Proulx said before they can find a way to fix it, they have to figure out what causes it.
An option that some sufferers say has been providing relief is something that has been dubbed “liberation therapy”.
Liberation therapy, developed by Italian researcher Dr. Paolo Zamboni in 2009, is a procedure in which MS patients are treated by having balloon angioplasty in their neck veins. The hypothesis is that by increasing blood flow to the brain, MS symptoms are reduced.
Unavailable in Canada, in July the federal government agreed to fund clinical trials.
Hundreds of Canadians, though, are paying thousands of dollars to undergo the surgery at private clinics outside the country.
Proulx believes it is worth taking a chance. She will be receiving the treatment in Albany, New York, in February.To assist the community leader in her quest for wellness, Proulx’s long time friend, Monique Forsyth, has set out to help.
“Rachel and I have been friends for over 40 years,” Forsyth stated. “I have watched Rachel experience the ups and downs of this terrible disease, all the while continuing to be an advocate for women’s rights, education and the disabled. She and Charlie both amaze me.”
Cheques can be mailed or dropped off in the name of Rachel Proulx to Monique Forsyth at Northern Voice & Data, 174 Douglas St., Sudbury, ON P3E 1G1 or at the Apollo Restaurant on The Kingsway.
Posted by Jenny Jelen
