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John McCain has died after a brave struggle with cancer. He was a flawed but fiercely independent American icon.

John McCain was an American original. He greatest legacy will be his love of bipartisanship.

The world has spent much of the past year saying a long goodbye to John McCain. On Saturday, August 25, he passed away after a long struggle with brain cancer.

He’s leaving behind a personal and professional legacy that places him in the upper echelon of some of our most memorable political leaders beginning his public life as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War all the way up to becoming the Republican nominee for president in 2008.


But it’s the things he did between those iconic moments that he’ll be most remembered for.

Here are 7 times McCain famously put his country above partisan politics, leaving our country a little better off for it:

He Said No To Racism.

During the 2008 campaign, a supporter at a rally referred to then-candidate Barack Obama as “an Arab” and someone she could not trust as president. Before she could finish her racist rant, McCain took the microphone from her and declared:

"No, ma'am. He's a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign's all about. He's not [an Arab]."

That wasn't the only time McCain took the high road on race. During the same campaign he refused to engage in attacks on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, saying that any such moves would be perceived as racially insensitive. McCain was also still sore from when his fellow Republicans went to the lowest of lows by attacking him during the 2000 Republican primary. for adopting a young black girl.

He Fought To Get Money Out Of Politics.

It wasn’t that long ago when leading politicians were willing to say no to the corrupting influence of money in politics. In 2002, McCain and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) helped push through a historic campaign finance bill.

That bill was critically wounded by the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision a few years later but the bipartisan accomplishment is still profound. Consider this: McCain worked on a bill with a Democrat and helped get it passed through a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and signed into law by a Republican president, George W. Bush, whom he had just spent months bitterly fighting with on the campaign trail.

Photo by Lauren Victoria Burke/Getty Images.

He Helped Restore U.S. Relations With Vietnam.

To most of us, the Vietnam War is a distant memory. But the conflict left a huge scar on America’s psyche and McCain was a direct victim of it, having spent years as a prisoner of war inside Vietnam.

Nonetheless, McCain worked to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries in bipartisan fashion with fellow Vietnam veteran Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). Those efforts became a historic reality in 1995, something that likely could not have happened without the contributions of these two men.

Vietnam News Agency/AFP/Getty Images.

He Came Around On Climate Change.

Teddy Roosevelt was one of McCain’s heroes. So, you’d think he would have a great record on environmental issues. That wasn’t always the case. But in more recent years, McCain bucked his party to support efforts to save the Great Barrier Reef and to continue America’s role in the Paris climate agreement, despite President Trump’s objections.

He Took The High Road On Judicial Nominations.

Today, our country is divided over the once basic task of nominating and approving a Supreme Court justice. But there was a time not too long ago when McCain stood in the face of more partisan elements of his own party to help ensure that a president’s judicial nominees got a fair “up or down” vote in U.S. Senate. The move also at least temporarily helped ensure that then-President Bush nominated more moderate judges.

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

He’s Got No Time For Trump.

The feud between Trump and McCain started when Trump pathetically mocked McCain’s unshakable record as a war hero. But the split between a man driven by character and principle and a person driven by whatever drives Trump was inevitable. They are polar opposites in nearly every way.

In fact, when Trump was being sworn in as president, McCain visibly spent most of the time hanging out with ... Bernie Sanders.

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

Trump may end up outliving the Arizona senator but something tells us it’s McCain who will be having the last laugh.

He Helped Save Obamacare, Despite Not Being A Fan Of It.

During Trump’s first year in the White House he came very close to repealing Obamacare. He had the votes from a Republican-controlled House. But over in the Senate, McCain dramatically refused to support the repeal measure, leading to a humiliating defeat for Trump and even McCain’s fellow Republicans who had promised for years to repeal the healthcare law once they took back control of the White House.

He was also very human, including making plenty of mistakes.

McCain has plenty of critics and they aren’t all named “Donald Trump.” He’s freely admitted to having a checkered past. After all, it was his involvement in the “Keating Five” banking scandal that served as the catalyst for his larger legacy of campaign finance reform and getting “pork barrel spending” out of politics.

He also wasn’t perfect in his personal life.

And there are those who now scoff at the notion of McCain being a “maverick.” This is the same man who picked Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate, despite having a personal preference to pick then Sen. Joe Lieberman (Ind-CT), which would have been a far more independent, brave, and exciting move.

Still, even some of his biggest critics and former rivals are giving tribute to the man and his legacy.

People on the far left and the far right don’t like McCain. That’s called political courage.

McCain is a hero, warts and all. He spent the majority of his political career building bridges across the political aisle, not destroying them.

His service in Vietnam and his bravery as a POW are reason alone to honor his legacy. But his bravery and humanity years later in helping to heal the wounds with a country he fought against is a true testament to leadership and honor.

We’ll never know what McCain would have been like as president. But we got decades of him in the public life and our country is a little more American in the best sense because of it.

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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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