In what can only be described as heartbreaking listening, More FM host Sam Baxter opened up on this morning’s The Breakfast Club show about having MS, or multiple sclerosis.
In a tearful revelation, in which she frequently had to stop to compose herself and was reassured by cohosts Gary McCormick and JMac, Sam revealed to listeners that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, or MS, two years ago.
“I feel like I’ve kept this big thing to myself and it’s been weighing me down and I just want to let it go,” she divulged.
Sam began her revelation by talking about what a difficult year 2018 was for her More FM colleagues: “People listening to this show would know that the past year for us as a show has been pretty eventful. Lana’s had a lot go on with her, Gary had a hip replacement… and obviously everything that happened with Simon and Jodi’s battle…”
Cohost Lana Searle recently opened up in the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly about her year from hell, in which she went through a hysterectomy, a break-up and a near-death experience, and Simon Barnett is on extended leave caring for his wife, Jodi, who is undergoing treatment for a brain tumour.
“But behind the scenes for me I’ve had my own thing going on,” Sam shared, “and I’ve had to kind of wrap my head around this thing that came out of nowhere for me. And that thing is that I was diagnosed just over two years ago with… multiple scelorosis, otherwise known as MS…
“It’s something I’ve been dealing with behind the scenes for the past two years – trying to get my head around it and figure out what that means for me and my life.”
Sam said that in keeping it to herself she had felt like she was “lying to people”.
“…Because I can’t do everything and I feel like I have to make up these false excuses.”
It was seeing MS sufferer Salma Blair, who talked about her battle with the autoimmune disease last year, on the red carpet at this year’s Oscars that inspired Sam to reveal her truth.
Watch Selma Blair talk about how MS has affected her here, story continues below:
“She was standing on the red carpet in the middle of a relapse with her voice in spasm and half of her body really weak and I kind of just looked at her and I felt like, ‘oh my god, look at her – she’s just owning it’.
“She’s just saying ‘yes this is what I have; it doesn’t define me’. And I just felt like she looked really free and it just inspired me… to feel that way too.”
JMac told Sam how brave she was for speaking up.
“This must be a really liberating moment for you,” he empathised.
To find out more about multiple schlerosis, visit the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s website: msnz.org.nz
