By Ashley Earp
Former Patient
Salt Lake City, Utah

I vividly remember the night I was rushed to Primary Children’s Hospital. I was 15 years old, completely healthy and very active up until then, and my world was about to turn upside down. I was admitted to the hospital, where doctors worked to determine what was causing the most intolerable, unexplainable, painful headaches I had ever experienced. During a spinal tap, it was found that I had extraordinarily high brain pressure, and was later diagnosed with severe Increased Intracranial Pressure. It was later during my first hospital stay at Primary Children’s where an MRI was ordered, and lesions on my brain were found. Three years, numerous hospitalizations, countless doctors visits, and an immeasurable amount of odd symptoms later, I was officially diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at age 18.

Throughout those years, the psychological issues that accompanied illness and hospitalizations were sometimes more debilitating and painful than the physical symptoms.
It was challenging to feel such intense physical pain, but have no official diagnosis, and, therefore, no treatment to combat my symptoms. It was hard being an involved, enthusiastic high-school student who was too fatigued to enjoy the extracurricular activities I was deeply passionate about. I was often too tired to even attend school.

I have always been involved in the community, motivated to participate, and excited and passionate about life. But I have learned that even the happiest individuals can have a piece of their spirit taken down by illness. It was through social work at Primary Children’s where I found comfort and the ability to cope with the major life changes I was experiencing. One individual, Roland Oliver, LCSW, played a particularly profound role in my healing and coping
process.

As someone who likes to take on the world full-force and head-on, I often tried to push my sick body past the limits. I tried to cope with my chronic health problems by myself, and dismissed the importance of letting emotions show, as well as simple importance of talking to people. Ronald kindly offered resources, helped me understand how to help myself, and, most importantly, actively listened to my struggles, fears, and even accomplishments as I went through the process of being diagnosed with MS.

It can be a challenge to reach out to someone other than family and friends, but it changed my perspective not only on MS, but also on the power of sharing a story or a thought. Any illness has a significant effect on an individual, on a family, and on life in general. Social work is a healing and helping profession, dedicated to serving others in a holistic way. I lived years of my life surrounded by incredibly kind and talented medical professionals (doctors, nurses, techs, etc.), but it was social workers who were able to spend the time listening to my story, and helped me to make some connections and realizations about my health, my feelings, and my direction in life in general. I believe social work saved my mental and emotional well-being, just as dedicated doctors saved my physical well-being.

Since my experience with Primary Children’s, I have gone on to pursue a career in social work, myself. I will graduate from the University of Utah in May with my degree in social work. I enjoy international humanitarian work. I play roller derby here in Salt Lake City. I am loving life, and living life to the fullest, despite having Multiple Sclerosis. Social work at Primary Children’s played a huge role in that long-term success and happiness. It is a powerful profession, a healing profession, and a profession that deserves all the recognition in the world.