25 Boston Marathons Later: Why Multiple Sclerosis Has Failed to Stop This Runner

For Jan Fuller, 72, the finish line is familiar territory. She has completed 38 marathons—most of them while living with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Jan started running in high school. In her late 30s, she ran her first road race. Her first marathon followed soon thereafter. By this point, running was a major part of her identity.

Then came the MS diagnosis. Naturally, she worried about the impact this might have on her running and overall quality of life. But thanks to her personal commitment—and the expert care she has received at Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute—she has thrived on and off the road.

“Learning you have MS can feel like a stop sign, but it doesn’t have to be,” Jan said. “Let it be a speed bump instead. It might slow you down for awhile, but most patients manage to have a good, functional life. The outlook is far more optimistic than it was 30 years ago.”

‘It was soul-crushing’

The first hint something was wrong came around age 39. Jan woke up one morning experiencing numbness from the soles of her feet up to her hips. After visiting a local neurologist, she ended up spending four days in a hospital and undergoing an array of tests. The results were inconclusive. Within about six weeks, the symptoms went away.

A year later, the same symptoms came back. This time, a battery of tests found that she likely had MS. This is a chronic autoimmune disorder (meaning the body attacks itself by mistake) that causes neurologic damage.

“My local neurologist said, ‘You have MS, so you have to stop running,’” Jan recalled. “It was soul-crushing.”

Jan decided to pursue her neurologic care elsewhere. Her primary care doctor referred her to the Mass General Brigham Multiple Sclerosis Program. A neurologist there confirmed the MS diagnosis.

“At the time, there was a public service announcement running on TV. It showed an empty wheelchair spotlighted against a black background with the tagline, ‘MS, the Crippler of Young Adults,’” she said. “I thought that wheelchair was my future.”

She quickly learned that her new neurologist had a very different vision. Noting that Jan had already finished a few marathons, he encouraged her to continue running. “He told me, ‘As long as it’s safe—as long as you can feel your feet and legs—then keep moving,’” she said.

Jan did just that. The next year, she ran her first Boston Marathon to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

A diagnosis of lupus

Two years after her MS diagnosis, Jan was found to be severely anemic (having too few red blood cells or hemoglobin to carry oxygen to the body’s tissues). A hematologist subsequently diagnosed her with lupus, another autoimmune disease.

Jan had previously been on an MS medication for about a year. Now she was switched to an oral immunosuppressant (a drug that controls the immune system) to treat the lupus. Since both MS and lupus are autoimmune disorders, they sometimes respond to the same drug.

For many years, Jan continued seeing her neurologist at Mass General Brigham. After he retired, she transitioned to neurologist Eric Klawiter, MD, who specializes in treating MS and related diseases.

“I knew he was a runner and an athlete, so I thought he’d support my desire to stay active,” Jan said. “I’ve been seeing him for seven years now, and it’s been a great choice.”

Dr. Klawiter has been caring for patients with MS at Mass General Brigham since 2010. Over that period, he has witnessed huge strides in the treatment options available for MS.

“When I was training as a fellow, we had three main treatments for MS. Now we have more than 20 approved treatments, many of which are highly effective,” he said. “Once we start treatment, we can do a really good job of subduing the inflammation and preventing long-term disability.”