VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Photography is Andrezza Haddaway’s escape. She lives in Virginia Beach and recently, her passion turned into a project to raise awareness for multiple sclerosis.
“It was kind of a challenge, but I’m glad I made it,” says Andrezza.
The challenge for her was making her invisible symptoms of MS visible. One of the symptoms she focused on is weakness.
“Any movement that I did, like, to get out of the bed, to walk, just this dragging, and it was really difficult to stand up and walk.”
Andrezza says she wanted the model in her photos so express this symptom with some grace.
“I didn’t want it to be rough. I didn’t want it to be like, ‘Oh my God I’m dying. I can’t do it anymore.’ I wanted to express the weakness, but inside your soul you’re still fighting. You’re still strong.”
Another symptom? The dreaded MS Hug. It’s a feeling of painful and intense pressure around your mid-section.
“You just feel overwhelmed by the sensation and it’s just not good,” says Andrezza who suffered from the MS hug around the clock for several weeks.
Change in mood also affects some MS patients. It’s something that can be frustrating for this normally upbeat woman, and she captured it all in a photo.
She says she wanted her model to express the “sensation like you were screaming inside, you know, like you are exploding inside, but on the other hand you have to keep together so you won’t lose yourself.”
Brain fog is another symptom you can’t see, but it’s very real in the world of MS.
“The middle of a conversation I don’t know what happens, but somehow I just disconnect. You see the people talking, you hear people talking, but your mind is somewhere else,” says Andrezza.
Andrezza’s symptoms also include blurred vision, tingling, numbness, optic neuritis, and dizziness.
“When I felt the symptom, the MS, the dizziness, I literally, I was holding myself on my bed. I was laying down in my bed sleeping and just boom. I was holding myself in the bed afraid to fall. Even with your eyes closed, it’s spinning around and it’s horrible.”
Andrezza certainly does not want to have multiple sclerosis, but because she does, she wants to share her symptoms with the public so no one else has suffer undiagnosed for years like she did. You see, while she was diagnosed in 2007, she says she suffered symptoms of MS for 10 years prior.
“If I had known before, maybe I would still be able to run. Maybe I would have stopped the symptoms before and I would be able to do more stuff.”
In the meantime, Andrezza makes sure to continue doing what she loves, knowing a cure is not far off.
“There’s always hope,” says Andrezza.
Andrezza and her husband joined the WAVY Warriors for Walk MS and you can too! Click here to join or donate to the team.
WAVY-TV 10 is a proud sponsor of the walk. It is this Sunday, April 8 at the MacArthur Center Green in Norfolk. Registration is at noon.
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You can still sign up to be a WAVY Warrior or donate to the team for Walk MS.
The walk is Sunday, April 8, at the MacArthur Center Green in Norfolk. Registration is at noon and the walk begins at 1 p.m.
