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A girl and her dad played one last video game before he died. She'll never forget it.

Sophia Ouellette never could've imagined the effect video games would have on her life when she first picked them up as a kid.

"My dad was always a huge gamer," Sophia says in a video produced by PlayStation. "He would play games all the time with our whole family. Just him playing those games and sharing the stories of the characters within the games, that really got me interested in them."


Image via YouTube/PlayStation.

In late 2011, Sophia's father was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer.

But their shared love of gaming didn't stop with his diagnosis. In fact, gaming became more important than ever.

"Before he passed he really wanted us to experience things with him," says Sophia. "[He wanted to make] sure that he could spend his last few weeks having fun and experiencing games. And just playing with us."

Image via YouTube/PlayStation.

Unfortunately, as his illness progressed, gaming became more difficult — his reflexes were deteriorating, and the gaming options became more limited.

That's when Sophia and her dad found a game called Journey.

Journey, a video game produced by That Game Company in California, is a one-of-a-kind story experience.

Less of an actual "game" and more of an interactive piece of poetry or painting, Journey puts the player in control of a character with no name in a world with no explanation.

Your mission, such as it is, is simply to get to the top of a nearby mountain.

Image via YouTube/PlayStation.

As you glide through Journey's mystical landscapes, you're immediately struck by the game's uniquely atmospheric beauty. Large rolling hills of desert sand give way to dark, isolating caves. Unnamed creatures made of magic carpets undulate through the air, lifting you silently through castles and across seemingly ancient bridges.

Image via YouTube/PlayStation.

Along the way, other players on their own journeys may cross paths with you. They appear without a name tag and without a way to communicate with you. You simply walk through the world of the game together, leading and following each other as you solve puzzles on the way to your final destination.

While widely regarded as one of the best video games ever made (seriously), Journey holds a particularly special place in Sophia's heart.

"Towards the end of the game, it suddenly gets really cold and icy, and it becomes really difficult to progress," Sophia says in the video. "Eventually your character sort of gives up, you can't go on any longer, and at that point, my dad and I thought it might have been the end of the game, it was sort of a sad ending."

Image via YouTube/PlayStation.

They were wrong, though — when you make it past that icy point, the game comes back to life.

Your character has reached the beautiful mountaintop, and all the creatures you encountered on your journey in the world below reunite to help wistfully usher you to the end of the story.

"I think that that gave my dad some kind of peace because near the end of his life, he was playing a game that told him that in the end it would be all right."

Image via YouTube/PlayStation.

Whether we're telling, hearing, or playing them in video games, stories help us process emotions and complex feelings.

Stories have a unique ability to heal. They can reach out and lift us up when we need it the most. Doctors like Richard Senelick have used stories to make a more positive and meaningful connection with their patients, as he explained in The Huffington Post:

"As we careen into the digital age, the fistful of pamphlets that we stuff into our patients’ hands will be as ineffective in the future as they have been in the past. Storytelling, in its various forms, may be one way to connect more meaningfully with our patients, to both help us get to know them individually and help them understand their physical condition."

Author Joshua Rivedal recently wrote a book about how storytelling can help people who suffer from depression by helping them to empathize with others, and events like Characters Unite or The Moth use live storytelling to speak to cultural differences, injustices, and universal similarities. Not to mention Letters Live, in which artists read letters aloud to an audience.

Nathan Lane, speaking at A More Perfect Union: Stories of Prejudice and Power, a national storytelling tour presented by The Moth. Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images.

The cultural significance of storytelling is well documented and can be seen daily in the billions of dollars spent every year telling them through literature, film, radio, and — yes — video games.

"Eventually I want to do game design and characters for video games," says Sophia, who recently got to show some of her artwork to the creators of Journey.

While her father has passed, she will always remember Journey as the game that brought them together and showed them that everything would be OK, in a time when both of them needed it the most.

"Whatever I make, I just want it to be something people can really connect with. Something where people see themselves in the characters I create."

Sophia and Journey creator Jenova Chen. Image via YouTube/PlayStation.

Sometimes a single story can change your life forever. Stories can move you, inspire you, and teach you valuable lessons. Sophia is telling her own stories now, and luckily for all of us, her journey is just beginning.

See Sophia's whole story here:

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Three women, three MS journeys: How multiple sclerosis looks different for everyone

Gina, Nathalie and Helga share their reactions to being diagnosed with MS and how they stay informed and positive in the face of ever-changing symptoms.

Courtesy of Sanofi

Helga, Nathalie and Gina all have MS, and their experiences show how differently the disease can manifest.

True

It’s been 155 years since neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot gave the first lecture on a mysterious progressive illness he called “multiple sclerosis.” Since then, we’ve learned a lot. We know MS causes the immune system to attack healthy tissue, including damaging the brain and spinal cord. Resulting symptoms can be debilitating and include fatigue, blurred vision, memory problems and weakness. Huge advancements in our understanding of MS and its underlying causes, as well as treatment advances, have been made in the past few decades, but MS remains a complex and unpredictable reality for the 2.8 million+ people diagnosed around the world.

Ironically, the only real constant for people living with MS is change. There’s no set pattern or standard progression of the disease, so each person’s experience is unique. Some people with MS have mild symptoms that worsen slowly but sometimes improve, while others can have severe symptoms that drastically alter their daily lives.

All people with MS share some things in common, however, such as the need to stay informed on the ever-evolving research, find various lines of support and try to remain hopeful as they continue living with the disease.

To better understand what navigating life with MS really looks like, three women shared their MS stories with us. Their journeys demonstrate how MS can look different for different people and interestingly, how the language used to talk about the disease can greatly impact how people understand their realities.

woman with horse, woman riding horseGina loves riding her horse, Benita.Courtesy of Sanofi

Gina—Hamburg, Germany (diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis in 2017)

When her youngest son was 4 months old, Gina started having problems with her eye. She’d soon learn she was experiencing optic neuritis—her first symptom of MS.

“Immediately after the diagnosis, I looked up facts on MS because I didn’t know anything about it,” Gina says. “And as soon as I knew what could really happen with this disease, I actually got scared.”

As her family’s primary income provider, she worried about how MS would impact her ability to work as a writer and editor. Her family was afraid she was going to end up in a wheelchair. However, for now, Gina’s MS is managed well enough that she still works full-time and is able to be active.

“When I tell somebody that I have MS, they often don't believe me the first time because I don't fulfill any stereotypes,” she says.

Overwhelmed by negative perspectives on living with MS, Gina sought support in the online MS community, which she found to be much more positive.

“I think it’s important to use as many positive words as you can when talking about MS.” It’s important to be realistic while also conveying hope, she says. “MS is an insidious disease that can cause many bad symptoms…that can be frightening, and you can't gloss over it, either.”

To give back to the online community that helped her so much, Gina started a blog to share her story and help others trying to learn about their diagnosis.

Though she deals with fatigue and cognitive dysfunction sometimes, Gina stays active swimming, biking, riding horses and playing with her sons, who are now 11 and 6.

Cognitive dysfunction is common in MS, with over half of people affected. It can impact memory, attention, planning, and word-finding. As with many aspects of MS, some people experience mild changes, while others face more challenges.

Gina says that while there’s still a lot of education about MS needed, she feels positive about the future of MS because there’s so much research being done.

woman in wheelchair holding medal, woman rowingNathalie is an award-winning rower with multiple international titles.Courtesy of Sanofi

Nathalie — Pennes Mirabeau, France (diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2002)

Nathalie was a teenager and a competitive athlete when she noticed her first symptoms of MS, but it would take four years of “limbo” before she was diagnosed.

“Ultimately, the diagnosis was more of a relief, than a shock,” she says. “Because when you have signs and you don’t know why, it’s worse than knowing, in the end, what you have.”

However, learning more about the disease—and the realities of disease progression—scared her.

“That glimpse of the future was direct and traumatic,” she says. Her neurologist explained that the disease evolves differently for everyone, and her situation might end up being serious or very mild. So, she decided to stop comparing herself to others with MS.

She said to herself, “We’ll see what happens, and you’ll manage it bit by bit.”

By 2005, Nathalie’s MS had progressed to the point of needing a wheelchair. However, that has not dampened her competitive spirit.

Nathalie began her international rowing career in 2009 and has won multiple world titles, including two Paralympic medals—silver in London and bronze in Tokyo. Now, at 42, she still trains 11 times a week. Fatigue can be a problem, and sometimes hard workouts leave her with muscle stiffness and shaking, but she credits her ongoing sports career for helping her feel in tune with her body’s signals.

“Over the years, I’ve learned to listen to my body, letting my body guide when I need to stop and take breaks,” she says.

Nathalie explains that she used to only look backwards because of the initial shock of her diagnosis. In time, she stopped thinking about what she couldn’t do anymore and focused on her future. She now lives in the following mindset: “Even when doors close, don’t miss out on those that open.” Instead of focusing on what she can’t do, she focuses on the opportunities she still has. Right now, this includes her training for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, where she will compete for another rowing medal.

“I only go forward,” she says. “Well, I try, anyway…It’s easy to say, it’s not always easy to do. But that’s what I try to do.”

woman exiting water after swimming, woman with great daneHelga's Great Dane has become a helpful and beloved companion.Courtesy of Sanofi

Helga—Johannesburg, South Africa (diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis in 2010)

When Helga first started having balance issues and numbness in her feet, she chalked it up to her training as a runner. But when the numbness moved to her face, she knew something was wrong. She never guessed it was MS.

“When I was diagnosed, I felt completely overwhelmed and clueless,” Helga says. “I felt that I had nowhere near enough information. I did not know anything about the disease…I had no idea that it was going to be a process of continually monitoring and adjusting your lifestyle.”

In the beginning, Helga’s symptoms developed slowly, and she didn’t appear ill to others. She was even able to run for a few years after her diagnosis, but she couldn’t do marathons anymore, and she began to fall frequently due to balance issues and right-foot dragging. Then her cognition issues became more problematic, especially in her job as a trainer in a printing company.

“My executive function, decision-making and short-term memory were affected to the point that I was eventually medically unfit for work,” she says. She stopped working in 2017.

However, she didn’t stop living life. Even though she could no longer run, she continued to swim competitively. She got a Great Dane puppy and trained him as a service dog to help her walk. She also serves as vice chair of the patient support organization Multiple Sclerosis South Africa, and she advises others who have been diagnosed to join a patient advocacy group as soon as possible to get reliable information and meet others with MS.

Helga says she is “hopeful” about the future of MS. “I must say that I am so grateful that we have all the new medications available, because my life would not be the same if it wasn't for that,” she adds.

Part of how she manages her MS is by looking at the positives.

“If I could tell the world one thing about MS, it would be that MS is an incurable disease of the nervous system, but it's also the greatest teacher of valuing your health, family, friends, and managing change in your life,” she says. “My life is diversified in a way that I never, ever thought it would, and MS has been honestly the greatest teacher.”

Each MS journey is unique – with each person impacted experiencing different struggles, successes, and feelings as they manage this unpredictable disease. But the common thread is clear – there is a critical need for information, support, and hope. We are proud to participate in World MS Day and share these incredible stories of living life while living with MS. To learn more about MS, go to https://www.sanofi.com/why-words-really-matter-when-it-comes-to-multiple-sclerosis.

MAT-GLB-2301642-v1.0-05/2023

This article was sponsored by Sanofi. Participants were compensated when applicable.

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