Blair Rings in 4-9
- Actress Selma Blair turns 49 years old and celebrates her birthday by acknowledging disability rights advocates; Blair has multiple sclerosis (MS).
- She went public with her disease in 2018, and has been a role model for people battling MS.
- MS is a disease in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of the body's nerves; coping with a challenging diagnosis can be helped with therapy.
Blair writes on social media, “I turned 49 today, a child of the seventies. Just a bit behind the change makers in the film, @cripcampfilm. The Judith Heumanns of this lifetime have irrevocably changed me….
Read MoreView this post on InstagramShe continues to say, “The free spirited campers who grew into further strengths at Camp Jened and after. And the committed activism of these stars… for people living with disabilities, thank you. I live a better life, benefiting from the steps you have rolled ahead of us… living by example. To say the least. Bravos and bravas.”
Crip Camp tells the story of Camp Jened, a camp in New York specifically for people with disabilities. The camp was a springboard for the disability rights movement in the U.S.
Blair’s MS Battle
Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of the body's nerves. Essentially, the disease disrupts communication between the brain and the body. Symptoms of the disease can include vision loss, pain, fatigue and impaired coordination.
Blair was diagnosed with MS in 2018, and despite this life-changing diagnosis, the actress manages to remain upbeat through her MS journey. Blair took to Instagram to share the news of her diagnosis with fans and followers. In doing so, she has also shined a light on this disease and created a greater awareness of it.
View this post on Instagram
In a 2018 post discussing her illness, she wrote candidly: "I have multiple sclerosis. I am in an exacerbation…I am disabled. I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken gps. But we are doing it. And I laugh and I don't know exactly what I will do precisely but I will do my best. Since my diagnosis at ten thirty pm on The night of August 16, I have had love and support from my friends…"
Blair has used chemotherapy to treat her MS.
Not Your Parents' Chemotherapy: New Solutions for Nausea, Hair Loss, and Other Chemo Side Effects
Coping with a Challenging Diagnosis
Coping with a diagnosis like MS or even cancer can feel daunting, overwhelming, and may lead some people to experience symptoms of mental health trouble, such as depression.
Related: Dealing With Grief After a Cancer Diagnosis
Rest assured, there is help, and you don’t need to needlessly suffer. Therapy and medication are two ways in which clinical depression can be treated. In an earlier interview, Dr. Scott Irwin discussed the options available to people diagnosed with cancer who are struggling with depression. He says, “For prescribing medications for depression in the context of cancer, I often try to choose medications with the lowest side effect profile.”
“If patients are getting hormonal therapy, there’s particular antidepressants that we can’t use, because they may lower the effectiveness of that hormonal therapy,” he explains. “And so we choose antidepressants that don’t impact the cancer care.”
Treating Depression After a Cancer Diagnosis
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