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After a tragedy, we all need something to give us hope. Here's how sports have done that.

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DICK'S Sporting Goods

When Hurricane Harvey struck southeast Texas in August 2017, it left the area underwater, and many residents found themselves completely devastated.

[rebelmouse-image 19533846 dam="1" original_size="512x341" caption="Image by South Carolina National Guard/Wikimedia Commons." expand=1]Image by South Carolina National Guard/Wikimedia Commons.

They'd lost their homes, their towns, and their sense of safety.


But even after all that pain, there was one thing that Houston residents could still come together and root for: the Houston Astros.

The baseball team, which had never won a World Series, was having an incredible season. It seemed like they might have a shot at going all the way. On the day Harvey hit, the team was already leading their division by 12 games.

After the storm, they team played on, even hotter than they had been before. They finished the regular season 21 games ahead of division's second-place team, the Los Angeles Angels.

And just nine weeks after Harvey struck the state, the Astros made that World Series win a reality.

Fans celebrated in flood-damaged homes, sitting in rooms with walls stripped down to the studs and nothing but a TV and lawn chairs inside.

Astros players told the media they'd done it for the city.

"We love each and every one associated with Houston. We've been through a lot, and for us not to be there when everything was going on really hurt us," pitcher Dallas Keuchel told MLB.com. "This is our redemption. This is what we give on back."

This wasn’t the first time that a sports team gave their cities something to hope and cheer for in times of tragedy.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 storm, decimated the city of New Orleans. So during the 2006 draft, the New Orleans Saints were in bad shape.

[rebelmouse-image 19533847 dam="1" original_size="512x340" caption="Photo by Mark Wolfe/Wikimedia Commons." expand=1]Photo by Mark Wolfe/Wikimedia Commons.

“I remember driving from the airport to the team facility as a free agent the spring after Katrina,” Scott Fujita, who signed with the Saints in 2006, told Sports Illustrated, “and there’s only one way to describe what I saw: post-apocalyptic.”

The team drafted Reggie Bush, a star linebacker who would prove crucial to the Saints’ success a few seasons later. By 2009, the city was still in the midst of their hurricane recovery, but the team was showing signs of life. That season, they jumped to a 13-0 record.

"A lot of fans would explain to us that this was their break from their reality," Jonathan Vilma, former Saints linebacker, told CBS Sports. "So they wanted to go and get there early, tailgate, get away from whatever problems that they had going on."

When the team won the 2010 NFC Championship, in the Superdome that had been a shelter and become a symbol of Katrina, the significance wasn’t lost on anyone.

The Saints' victory. Photo by Michael Heiman/Getty Images.

And when they went on to win the Super Bowl, it felt like a victory for everyone.

“It’s not just a game, it’s a rally for the city, for the team,” says Jonathan Levitt, who was living outside of Boston at the time of the 2013 Marathon bombing.

For Levitt, that day was a personal turning point: It was the day he decided he wanted to run marathons. For the city of Boston, recovery would take time. “The next few days were really strange,” he says. “Nobody really knew what to do, where to go, what was safe.”

But it was baseball season, so the Red Sox stepped up to be the leaders Boston needed. David Ortiz, affectionately called “Big Papi,” grabbed the microphone during a home game at Fenway Park. “This is our fucking city!” he boomed to a cheering crowd. “And nobody’s going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.”

Led by Ortiz and backed by Boston residents, the 2013 Red Sox began to get hot. And they stayed that way throughout the season. They won their division, then the pennant, and then the World Series itself.

[rebelmouse-image 19533850 dam="1" original_size="2048x1365" caption="Fans celebrating the Red Sox winning the 2013 World Series. Photo by Kiva Kuan Liu/BU News Service/Flickr." expand=1]Fans celebrating the Red Sox winning the 2013 World Series. Photo by Kiva Kuan Liu/BU News Service/Flickr.

“The city rallied around [the Red Sox] and it became sort of a unifying thing,” Levitt says. “Then they go on to win the World Series and I think it was a pretty inspired season.”

Sports give people a temporary escape from reality.

“We truly embrace having other people commiserate with us. It’s a real bonding thing to feel connected with people who care as much as you do,said Edward Hirt, a professor with the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University who researches fanship, to Headspace.

“What a great opportunity to feel connected to something that transcends ourselves.”

Image via iStock.

The tragedies also seem to inspire greatness in athletes may feel an obligation to step up and perform.

Perhaps it’s what they feel they can give at a time when it’s easy to feel small and helpless.

“When you see underdogs win, [it shows] that stuff pays off,” Hirt said. “The team that wants it more and tries harder getting rewarded is a theme that really resonates with us. It makes us feel like there’s justice in the world.”

At the World Series in 2001 at Yankee Stadium, just weeks after the devastation of 9/11, President George W. Bush threw the ceremonial first pitch while wearing a bulletproof vest.

[rebelmouse-image 19533852 dam="1" original_size="512x692" caption="Photo by Eric Draper/Wikimedia Commons." expand=1]Photo by Eric Draper/Wikimedia Commons.

“For the first time I think in the history of baseball, people around the country were rooting for the Yankees to win,” actor and Yankees fan Billy Crystal told ESPN.

That is the unifying power of sports. It can bring together the unlikeliest of people, and for a few hours, they can feel as one.

This story was produced as part of a campaign called "17 Days" with DICK'S Sporting Goods. These stories aim to shine a light on real occurrences of sports bringing people together.

Correction 2/20/2017: This post was updated to fix a misattributed quotation.

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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.

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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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via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

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