Why I Said Yes to MoLo

When I first met Wendell, I had no idea that one friendship—and two people living with MS—would eventually lead me here.

Living with MS teaches you pretty quickly that movement doesn't always look the way people expect it to.

Some days you can do more. Some days less. Sometimes getting where you're going takes planning, adapting, resting, trying again—or laughing because your body apparently didn't read the itinerary.

That's part of why Wendell's vision for Team MoLo MS connected with me.

I didn't just see someone living with MS and significant mobility challenges. I saw someone who had an idea that was ridiculously simple and incredibly important:

Motion is Lotion.

Keep moving. Whatever movement looks like for you.

It wasn't about running marathons or hitting somebody else's fitness goal. It was about refusing to disappear from life because your body had changed. Walk. Roll. Stretch. Exercise from a chair. Get out of the house. Meet somebody for lunch. Show up at an event. Try something you weren't sure you could do.

Every Movement Matters.

But somewhere along the way, I realized MoLo was about something even bigger than movement.

It was about connection.

Disability can shrink your world. Plans become harder. Invitations become fewer. Transportation becomes complicated. Accessibility isn't guaranteed. Sometimes people simply stop asking. Sometimes, all of that leads to people stop trying.

Team MoLo MS would be a place where nobody had to explain why they moved differently.

That mattered to me.

So what started as believing in Wendell's idea became helping build it—one conversation, event, graphic, ridiculous brainstorm and occasionally chaotic idea at a time.

And we've learned something important:

We don't all move the same way.

We don't have the same abilities.

We don't have the same story.

We don't need to.

Team MoLo MS isn't about keeping up with anybody else. It's about finding your movement, finding your people and knowing there's a place where you belong.

That's why I said yes to MoLo.

And that's why I'm still saying yes.

— Debbie

Co-Founder, Team MoLo MS