MASSARO: Woman isn't letting disease win

By Gary Massaro, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 12:05 a.m., March 28, 2008
Updated 12:33 a.m., March 28, 2008

Sue Tull will be at fundraiser no matter how she feels.

Sue Tull has good days, not so good days and downright bad days.

On her most terrible of days, she has trouble walking and talking and seeing.

Blame multiple sclerosis for her infirmities.

But credit Tull even more for plugging along. She has battled, cussed at and lived with MS for 28 years, first diagnosed when she was 24.

MS has taken a lot from her. But Tull still has a lot of fight left in her.

"I can't give up," she said. "I refuse to give up. I love my family very much. And I love myself. I want to be as strong as I can be, to have as good a life as I can have - for myself and my family."

Tull, 52, grew up in Medfield, Mass.

"We always called it Mudville," she said.

Her sister came to Colorado, and invited Tull to visit.

"I was 20 years old and had never been out of New England. It was boring and dull," she said. "My mom said 'promise me that you'll stay at least a year, that you'll give it a good try.' That first year was really hard. I almost went back so many times."

But she stuck it out. She had worked as a bank teller back East, and soon got a job as a bookkeeper.

Now, she works a few hours a week at a Curves fitness center. She goes to water aerobics four, five times a week, which she said helps her strength.

But she wasn't rehired as a seasonal tax preparer. Her bosses said they wanted her to work full time, something she's unable to do.

So she's looking for a part-time job.

Tull was initially misdiagnosed.

"I woke up one morning, and was totally paralyzed on my right side," she said.

A doctor told her it was sympathy pains for her father, who had suffered a stroke.

A few months later, she woke up and her vision was bad.

She went to a different doctor, who made the correct diagnosis while she was hospitalized.

At the time, she was dating Stephen Tull. Her mom came to visit. "Steve took my mom out to dinner and entertained her every day she was here," Tull said.

They married soon after and have twin daughters, Aimee and Erin, both 25. They'll all be walking in an MS fundraiser in May.

Last year, Tull made it about a half-mile along the three-mile course in a seat walker - sitting in the walker chair and pushing off with her legs.

This year, she'd like to go farther. But it depends on how she feels when she wakes up the day of the walk.

No matter how she feels, she'll at least show up.

"I want to raise money for research," she said. "There's a cure out there. I feel if we have the money to explore it further, we're going to find it."

Her faith is as important. She volunteers a day a week at St. Matthew Episcopal Church.

"I feel like I'm helping keep things on target," she said. "I feel the Lord looks down on me and smiles for what I'm able to do."

massarog@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5271