Dan & Jennifer
Love and MS in the time of COVID-19
It was love at first sight when Dan and Jennifer Digmann met at a multiple sclerosis event 19 years ago.
And come September the Mr. Pleasant couple will celebrate their 16th wedding anniversary.
Jennifer, 46, who gets about in a wheelchair, has the secondary progressive form of MS.
Dan, 48, has the relapsing-remitting form and is able to walk.
She was diagnosed in 1997; he
in 2000.
Jennifer has someone to help her during the day - laundry, cooking and cleaning - and Dan works 40 hours a week.
The couple was managing just fine, even, one might say, living the good life when the pandemic hit.
How has COVID-19 impacted them?
Actually, they may be weathering the epidemic better than most.
Of course they miss going to church and seeing their friends, dining inside a restaurant, enjoying a leisurely shopping trip, or
simply going out for a pizza and beer with friends.
They miss visiting family and friends as well.
“It’s been a year since we’ve seen my family,” Dan said.
For Dan, he’d like nothing better than taking a seat at a Midland Loons baseball game.
“I’d pay double the amount for tickets,” he said.
Jennifer notes that she hasn’t had her nails done in more than a year but her house, she says, “has never been cleaner.”
They worry too that they’re not getting enough exercise.
In other words, their pandemic experience mirrors most everyone’s.
But there are some differences. There have been some positives.
Instead of traveling to Ann Arbor for his annual check up, Dan had a virtual visit with his doctor and that worked out very well.
Another big difference from many other couples is that Dan and Jennifer haven’t had to adjust to being cooped up with one another in the past year.
Dan, who is a creative writer for a college marketing firm out of Iowa - his home state - has been able to work at home for the past three years.
“We are together 24/7,” he said. “I can’t get enough of her. We’re still playing house.”
They don’t even watch movies unless it’s interrupted by commercials because they don’t have a chance to talk, Dan said.
Both, however, are on their computers and cell phones and Jennifer enjoys audio books as well.
For Jennifer, the best part of the day is when she gets to stand. She has a frame that once Dan puts her in, she is able to stand. The other day she stood for 33 minutes and nothing beats that, she said.
But like the rest of us, they are beginning to get out and about a bit and not just trips to the grocery store.
Not too long ago, the couple went on a big shopping trip, starting the day at Target with coffee at Starbucks and then moving on to Menards.
“It was such a good day,” Jennifer said.
The couple too has had the opportunity to get to know other couples who have MS.
“There are 2.3 million people in the world with MS and 1 million in the U.S.,” she said.
There are more married couples who each have MS than one would expect, Dan added.
Some have married after each had been diagnosed - like Dan and Jennifer - while others have been diagnosed after marriage. First one spouse is diagnosed and then the other one gets it.
With these couples, they share their feelings and experiences, Jennifer said, noting that they have become friends with another couple with MS in India, among others.
Unlike so many other, older people neither Dan or Jennifer, since they’re both under 50, has received a COVID vaccine.
The medication Dan will be taking interferes with the vaccine and weeks/ months have to pass between his MS treatment and the vaccine.
But they will be getting the vaccinations at some point, they said.
This is MS Awareness week and despite a newer weakness in Jennifer’s right arm, both are happy to report that the disease has held steady since they were married, with little if any diminishment in their abilities.
And they can’t wait for life to get back to normal just like everyone else.
After all, there are some Loons tickets out there just waiting to be picked up.