Taking life as it comes is all Julie Sauvé can do now.

As we sit down and talk about how multiple sclerosis (MS) has affected her, the toll is apparent, even if hidden behind the protection of her welcoming smile.

Before MS she enjoyed sports such as volleyball, fishing and was an energetic assistant manager of a local restaurant. Now she is often tired, is forced to take frequent naps and can barely stand for more than 20 minutes without shaking.

It’s been more than five years since her diagnosis.

Despite the struggles, she is amazingly positive for a person that has had her entire life changed.

“It’s just who I am. They are not taking that away from me. I refuse to allow that to happen because initially when I found out I had MS, I was depressed for two months,” she said. “There was no smiling and a lot of crying. Then just like that I came out of it and I’m like yay, I get to be me.”

She no longer works, unable to keep up with the high pace of a restaurant, and has started to take accounting courses toward acquiring a bookkeeping job.

Although she describes herself as above average for being taller than her parents, it is her strength of character that towers above all else.

When her doctor prescribed a high protein diet that included a collection of vitamin supplements, it was recommended to use the special diet allowance that was available to recipients of the Ontario Disability Support Program. The illness became manageable with the prescribed high protein diet, lessening the symptoms.

In 2005 the Ministry of Community and Social Services changed things by omitting 43 conditions, including MS. She is still in disbelief that conditions including cancer and MS no longer qualify for funding.

Her condition deteriorated as a result and has weakened her physically to the point that she needs a cane to walk and stand and she no longer sees well out one eye.

“I did not want that to happen. My vision in this (right) eye is not great, but this one is still good and I’m happy about that,” she said.

Sauvé has had to rely on the charity of friends and groups such as the Friends of MS, and Rotary Club member Ian Lancaster, in the form of A&P gift certificates, and her credit cards to maintain some semblance of health.

“Luckily I do have good people in my life. My parents are wonderful (too),” she said.

Even with the help it has not proved enough to replace the monthly $177 she used to receive from the government.

Sauvé has been included in a collection of hundreds of complaints filed by former recipients stating they were being discriminated against on the basis of disability. The complaints were sent to the Human Rights Commission and the commission has referred 77 of those cases to the Human Rights Tribunal.

After more than two years the lawyers representing the complainants will have a meeting with

the Human Rights Commission April 11.

“I hope on the 11th of April everything goes really well and they decide to go forward with it,” she said.

Before she was diagnosed she never knew very much about the annual Super Cities WALK for MS. Last year there were more than 35,000 participants in 62 Ontario communities, which included Muskoka, in the Super Cities WALK.

Sauvé said the importance for people to get involved either by walking or donating is to help the MS Society assist people who suffer with the effects of the disease.

Currently there is no known cause except that countries north of the equator have the highest occurrences, particularly Canada, which has one of the highest rates in the world.

Strong to the core, Sauvé is determined to walk as far as she can in the event. She has been in the Muskoka MS WALK for the last two years. Although she has yet to finish the short five-kilometre distance, she has managed to start and get to the halfway mark.

“I’m weaker. I don’t know how far I’ll get (this year),” she said. She added that she has come as close to 1.5 km to finishing the short distance walk.

She has managed to raise $925 in donations and hopes to increase that total.

She will be leading the “Sauvéster” group, which was formed since her parents joined the walk. The group of six will include her sister and other family and friends.

The money from the event is distributed to MS causes. It helps to pay for things that she gets assistance with, such as house cleaning.

The sixth annual Muskoka WALK for MS will start this Sunday at Monck Public School at 10 a.m. Pre-check-in is Saturday at 11 a.m. or you can check in on the day of the walk starting at 8:30 a.m. There will be two lengths of 5 km and 10 km. The local event raised $55,000 (more than $22,000 more than the previous year) from 317 registered participants.

Registration and donations (in specific names) for the walk can be done online at the MS society website www.mssociety.ca.