A little background on me, my name is Gene Pohancsek and I was born and raised in western New York. I am married and have two daughters. They keep my wife and me busy, and our household is always buzzing. Family is my main inspiration for putting on a fight against MS. I have so much to live for!
I also love the game of ice hockey. Living in western New York, our weather and proximity to Canada lends itself to the love of this sport. I started skating and playing hockey at a very young age. I have pictures that show me on the ice at the age of 5 and I also knew, early on, that I wanted to be a goalie. I enjoy the pressure and being at the center of it all.
What a rush, I love it so much because I am “in control.” It is just me versus that frozen, extremely hard, vulcanized rubber hockey puck. If I failed to stop that puck, the other team would score and 90% of the time that responsibility fell on my lap. I loved the pressure then and still enjoy it now!
Being in control of my MS therapy is my way of putting up a battle against Multiple Sclerosis. I conceptualize my MS in a more concrete way. MS known to be the result of our own immune cells attacking nerve myelin in the central nervous system. Just as a goalie tries their hardest to keep pucks from crossing the goal line and fraying the net my MS medication is acting as an internal goalie, attempting to stop the progression of my Multiple Sclerosis. After all, who would want to play hockey without a goalie? What hockey player likes to play hockey with holes all through the net?
Having Multiple Sclerosis is a burden I would not wish on anyone. However, there are so many disease modifying therapies to choose from and being on an approved therapy allows my inner goalie to fight and assist in stopping this disease.
Forever a goalie!
Author: Gene Pohancsek
