By Robb Murray
The Free Press
GIBBON — Today she’s OK. As long as she takes her medication, Marge Berg has her multiple sclerosis under control.
But there’s no mistaking the toll the disease has taken on her life. Her sight, her hearing, her mobility and other basic functions were affected. And the restaurant in Fairfax she and her husband started failed when Berg was no longer able to work there.
This, however, isn’t a story about failure. Berg’s story is one of success, and this year she’ll be the official ambassador for the MS Walk in Mankato. She overcame her obstacles. And while she still struggles with MS-related problems, her life is relatively normal, and for that she credits the research of the MS Society.
An automobile crash in 1979 triggered her illness.
Her husband, Ray, was driving the pair down Highway 169. They were en route to deliver clothing to some family friends whose home had caught fire. The crash occurred between Shakopee and Savage.
“Marge busted up her face on the corner post,” Ray said.
Her vision became impaired. She slurred her speech.
“It was a tough diagnosis,” Marge said.
Doctors, she said, wanted to pull her teeth on one side. But Marge and Ray wanted a second opinion. She was examined by her family dentist who was the first to suggest, “Are you sure you don’t have MS?”
“Marge said, ‘What’s MS?’” recalls Ray.
The MS was there, they learned, but it took the crash to create the situations where her symptoms could become visible.
She was diagnosed in 1982 and from there started on a hunt to find a medication that would mitigate her symptoms.
“It was frustrating,” she said.
The illness took her away from work at Smokey Hollow, their restaurant. It became increasingly difficult for her to function. They recalled a time when they were dining at a restaurant in Olivia when Marge’s ability to use her utensils finally gave out.
“I fed her, and people gawked,” Ray said. “We left with tears in our eyes.”
Eventually, because Ray couldn’t manage on his own, they had to give up their restaurant in 1984. Ray struggled to find a job. Eventually he found work as a custodian at a local school, which helped them greatly because the job came with health insurance.
During the next decade or so, Marge would try various drugs to ease her MS symptoms, including Cytoxin, Solumedrol and Prednisone. Today she takes Copoxane, a drug that came about because of MS Society research, and she says it has changed her life. It comes in a daily injection, which she says is now as routine to her as brushing her teeth.
She’s hoping a cure isn’t far behind.
“They’re getting so close,” she said, “the research is just going great. Every dollar moves us closer to a world free of MS.”
This year’s MS Walk takes place May 2 and starts at Minnesota State University.
