Enumclaw Woman Raising Awareness About Rare Autoimmune Disease

ENUMCLAW, WA - Tricia Foerster is living with a rare autoimmune disease called Myasthenia Gravis (MG) that, as Foerster describes it, can make you appear like you've been drinking heavily. At some points, MG causes Foerster's eyes to droop (called ptosis), or for her to slur her speech.

"It feels like you're trapped in a body that doesn't work," she says. "When I get really bad, it appears that I'm hammered out of my mind."

Foerster, 52, was diagnosed with MG in 2013. Shortly after the diagnosis, she went out with her girlfriends for dinner and drinks. Foerster was exhibiting symptoms, and one of her eyes was drooping. A doctor had suggested she wear an eye patch, but Foerster that would make her look more ridiculous. One of her friends, a schoolteacher, happened to have a bunch of pirate-themed party favors in her car that night. So Foerster and her friends dressed up like pirates for the night and ended up having a lot of fun.

"I have the best friends ever," she remembers.

That night was also the beginning of something bigger: she and her friends formed a team - called "Chicks A'hoy" - to walk in the Seattle MG Walk. They still dress like pirates, but they're also helping support research about the disease.

Foerster and the Chicks A'hoy, and Foerster's family, will participate in the 2017 MG walk in Seattle on Sunday. Foerster is this year's "Walk Hero," which means she'll give a speech about how she came to her MG diagnosis.

The road to the diagnosis was long. It began 22 years ago when she started exhibiting symptoms like slurred speech and trouble walking. Within two years, she was diagnosed with lupus and Graves' disease, a thyroid condition. She was treated for both those diseases, which may have masked her MG symptoms.

Foerster worked as a medical professional, but her symptoms got so bad that it became almost dangerous for her to continue working with patients. On one particularly bad day at work, she was sent to the ER after the doctors she worked with thought she was having a stroke. A neuro-ophthalmologist examined her and determined she likely had MG.

The diagnosis allowed her to get the right form of treatment, and recently she's found a course of chemotherapy that helps with her symptoms.

According to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America, an estimated 20 in 100,000 people in the U.S. have MG, but many more people might be living with it without a diagnosis. Foerster hopes that she'll help others with MG get diagnosed by telling her story.

And then perhaps they'll find their own group of pirates to get through the tough times with.

"I'm so lucky compared to a lot of people," she says. "My family and friends have really gone out of their way to get educated on the disease."

The 2017 MG Walk happens Sunday in Seattle at Seward Park. The walk begins at 9 a.m. and you can find out more about how to contribute here.

Images courtesy Tricia Foerster