WEBVTT

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Army veteran Steven Gloss had landed

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his dream job in 2018 as a drone

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operator while on a business trip to

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Japan , glosses Foot went numb and

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then not feel anything . So for like

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the 1st 24 hours , I thought that that

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was really funny and kind of just

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laughed it off . But when that lingered

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for the next 48 to 72 to the entire

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week , I realized that that wasn't

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normal and something might be going on .

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After additional tests , doctors

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determined that Stephen had multiple

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school roses . It was actually the Via

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There was a doctor and at the Long

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Beach Villa in California . And yeah ,

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he diagnosed me and he just try to

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maintain a sense of optimism . But

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honestly , my prognosis , especially

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with how the rest of my M s was ,

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didn't look good , and doctors expected

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that I would probably be wheelchair

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bound for the rest of my life within

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the next . I'd say a year to two .

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That's sort of the prognosis that gave

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me . Stephen and his young family moved

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to Pennsylvania , where he enrolled in

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Lebanon of a medical centers healthcare

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and received a referral to see a

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chiropractor . Both of them recall

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their first meeting . I was having some

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at issues with my back again . So I got

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an appointment with Nova here at

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Lebanon to go see Dr Long , who's a

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chiropractor here at the D A . And it

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was that appointment . I remember . I

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remember vividly . I was having a lot

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of trouble walking that day with my M s .

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So I'm hobbling around with my cane and

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he calls me back to his office . He

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just gives me a one quick glance over .

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And so he said , just , you know ,

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follow me . We get to his office , I

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sit down , he kind of looked through My

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chart looks me up and down . And then

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he just stops for , like , maybe 10

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seconds like this . Almost like an

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awkward pause . He just looks at me and

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he says , I want to help you . I do . I

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do . Steven come into the office and he

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was He was hurting very bad . He could

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barely walk . He was using a cane . Um ,

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he was destroyed . He was actually very

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depressed . His function was a very

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good um , we were just trying to figure

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out what we could do to help . Prior to

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the appointment , Stephen had ambitions

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of running a half iron Man . Dr . Long

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encouraged him to aim higher , and with

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his mentorship , Stephen began training

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for a full iron . And so Dr Long , he's

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actually done , I think , two or three

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Iron Man's himself . And when he said

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those words , that kind of like sent

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goose bumps on my body because I was

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already training and planning to do

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this half iron man . So I told him

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about my my plan at that time to do the

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half iron Man . He just looked at me

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and he said , Just a half iron , Man ,

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you said , Why are you selling yourself

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short ? And what's amazing about this

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is when I would tell anybody else about

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this idea of doing a half iron man with

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M s . People would either say I was

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crazy , that it was a bad idea . That

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would be bad for my health , that it

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was just dangerous . And here's Dr Long

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asking why I'm selling myself short .

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You said you have the chance to not

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only have a good story , but a great

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story , and for the next several months

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I got to have this awesome relationship

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with Dr Long , where about every other

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month or so , I'd have another

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chiropractic appointment and he'd do an

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awesome adjustment , but at the same

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time , he would be there is , like a

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coach and a mentor to kind of guide me

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through my training program . Like the

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challenges I was facing and just be

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there is like a motivator to help me

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through it . But the first thing we did

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was we had to make sure that he was

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going to be capable of doing um since

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he was diagnosed with M s . A lot of

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people , a lot of people , and a lot of

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the physicians have told him , Hey ,

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you're not gonna be able to do this .

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You're not gonna be able to do this .

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You're not going to do this . So the

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first thing we did was we got him back

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into alignment . We got him into

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physical therapy . You know , this this

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place is great , you know , here at the

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V a . I mean , you know , we took the

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whole approach . We looked at his

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function and not his pain . We said ,

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Okay , this is what he wants to do .

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Can he do it ? And then we decided ,

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Okay , this is what he can't do . So

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what ? What do we need to ? He got into

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physical therapy , got into whole

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health program . He got into Physio

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Tree , everything he needed to do to

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get him to function , to do it again .

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So , you know , the first thing we had

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to do was walk , You know , he had to

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start walking again and walking

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normally once he started walking . Then

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we had him start jogging a little bit

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once he started jogging , Then we had

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him run a little bit . Then we had to

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get in the pool , which was despite

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covid 19 , Stephen completed a virtual

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iron man . Both doctor and patient

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worked hard to make this accomplishment

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happen . Yeah , amazing , you know ? No ,

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I know he gives me credit for it , but

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I didn't run one step . I didn't take

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one stroke in the water for him . I

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didn't ride 11 mile for him . He did

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all of it . Um , you know , you know ,

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the only thing we really did was we

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tried to get him to stop focusing on

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his pain and really start focusing more

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on on his function and being strong and

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healthy again , getting over his burden .

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Um , yeah , the guy is amazing , is

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amazing . But you know what ? All the

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veterans are amazing . You know ,

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sometimes they forget who they are ,

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you know ? I mean , you're a veteran .

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I'm a veteran , and , you know ,

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veterans know that we have been given

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tasks in life that , you know , there

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seems like there's no way we're ever

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gonna do them . But we always do , you

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know ? And sometimes when they're

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injured , they've been deployed , you

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know , they come back here and they

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forget , you know ? But , you know ,

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once we reminded him who he was , you

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know , he got back to being strong and

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healthy again . Stephen is continuing

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his care here and continues to seek out

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new challenges . I'm extremely happy

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with the care that I get here ,

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Actually , just got two MRIs over the

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past two days to kind of do a follow up

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to see what the progression of my M s

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looks like within my brain and my

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spinal cord . So I'm excited to see

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those results hopefully get some some

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positive news from that . But

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regardless of what What the results

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show . I'm just thankful that there's a

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team here that cares not just about me

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and my health , but as Dr Long is a

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great example of cares about my

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development and as a person , my

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character and my goals and my ambitions

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like that now . But I have my sights

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set on some pretty crazy goals , some

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pretty crazy ambitions . Not only am I

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going to do another iron man , but I

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plan on doing an Ironman every year for

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the next 12 years until I can make it

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to Kona for the Hawaii World

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Championship . It's my dream one day

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it's a race there , but on top of that ,

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I'm also considering doing something

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even crazier considering becoming the

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first person in the world with M s to

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ever swim across the English Channel .

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That's my goal for the next maybe 2 to

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3 years to train for that . So that's a

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21 mile swim that only I think about

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around 1300 people in this world I've

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ever done . So that's that's sort of my

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next big adventure moving forward .

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Like M s . People liken it to being

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like a ticking time bomb . Like every

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day is precious to me because I don't

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know what tomorrow . I mean , it's true

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for all of us . We don't know what

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tomorrow is going to hold in store for

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us , but when you have a disease like M

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s , I'm just one hour away from a

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relapse that's going to change my life

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forever .