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Volunteer award goes to MS patient
Wiley-Mitchell was diagnosed with MS at age 35.
YOUNGSTOWN — Dawn Wiley-Mitchell, 2008 Volunteer of the Year for the Ohio Buckeye Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, says helping other MS victims allows her to “get outside my own pain ... and be a person again.”
Wiley-Mitchell, 46, has MS herself. The Edinboro, Pa., native, was diagnosed with the MS at age 35. She is no longer able to work and receives Social Security disability.
MS is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system — the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
MS results from scarring of the covering of nerves, which interrupts messages from the brain to various areas of the body. Wiley-Mitchell likens MS to when insulation protecting an electrical wire is damaged, causing a short.
Wiley-Mitchell says she was “officially diagnosed” at 35, but she suspected she had the disease before that.
She had symptoms, such as leg muscle weakness which caused loss of control of her feet, a condition called “drop-foot,” and tired easily. The first doctor she went to said she was probably just she working out too hard.
She remembers reading a tattering MS brochure at a laundromat that described her symptoms and thinking to herself, “this must be it.”
Even the results of her first MRI scan of her brain and brain stem, the way to get a definitive diagnosis, came back negative. A second MRI, however, confirmed she has secondary-progressive MS, a type of MS in which the disease slowly progresses.
Wiley-Mitchell gets around the house with the help of a cane, and still drives without the use of adaptive equipment. “I want to hold off on that as long as I can,” she said.
But on long, twice-daily walks around the neighborhood, exercising herself and her 1-year-old German Shepherd mix, Brodey, she uses a rollator. The rollator is four-wheeled walker with hand brakes, like those on a bicycle, and a seat on which to stop and rest if necessary.
When she first got Brodey, about four months ago, through Angels for Animals, where she is a volunteer, Wiley-Mitchell had to rest after walking just a block. But she has gradually built up her strength and now completes her 3‚Ñ4 of a mile route without stopping.
“If I didn’t have Brodey, I probably wouldn’t have started walking. Also, being out in public makes me feel more human,” she said, describing what the dog has added to her life.
She said volunteering at Angels for Animals once a week is great therapy for her. “I love working with the dogs. They give you unconditional love. I can’t wait to go. I can’t do everything to care for the dogs, so I just hug them and brush them,” she said.
Wiley-Mitchell is relatively new to Angels for Animals, but for the last four years she has been a facilitator for the MS Musketeers self-help group that serves Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
The MS Musketeers, which meet at 12:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at the Jewish Community Center in Youngstown, has flourished with Wiley-Mitchell’s help, said Janet Kramer, president of the Ohio Buckeye Chapter. “She is a dependable volunteer who has truly made a difference in the lives of people with multiple sclerosis,” Kramer said.
Being the MS Musketeers facilitator has also been a personal benefit to Wiley-Mitchel, who said she was devastated when told she could no longer work.
The activity allows her to use her training and skills as a counselor to help other people, “empowering me to be a person again. Everybody in the group is so supportive. It’s uplifting,” she said.
Wiley-Mitchel said it is also a way of giving back to the National MS Society, which provided her with the rollator, which helps her remain independent and allows her to continue volunteering. The national MS organization also paid for her membership to the YMCA, where she swims to prevent muscle atrophy. Also, she said swimming is the only cardiovascular exercise she gets.
Wiley-Mitchell graduated in 1980 from Edinboro High School, and having become acquainted with several Edinboro psychology professors who lived on her street, she became interested in counseling. As a result, attended Edinboro State University where she received a bachelor of arts degree in psychology in 1984 and a master of arts degree in clinical psychology in 1986.
She previously worked for the former Parkview Counseling Center and Hospice of the Valley, both in Youngstown. Her husband, Lonzo, is employed at Dinesol Plastics in Niles. They have no children.
In addition to her work as a support group facilitator, Wiley-Mitchell has been involved in the MS Society’s holiday gift bag program by delivering gift bags to people with MS who are home-bound or living in long-term care facilities; participating in the annual Mahoning Valley MS Walk; and serving as an MS ambassador by sharing her story about living with MS to raise awareness about the disease.
Wiley-Mitchell said she was “very humbled” to receive the Isroff Program Volunteer of the Year Award, which was presented at the Society’s Annual Meeting and Volunteer Workshop in October at the Akron General Health and Wellness Center.
The Isroff Award is given to an individual whose contribution of time and talent has supported and promoted the Society’s programs and services. Wiley-Mitchell has shown her commitment to improving the lives of people with multiple sclerosis through her volunteer efforts, Kramer said.
“I don’t feel I do all that much. I see myself as a small pebble in the vast pond of MS, making small ripples. I feel as though I receive so much from every volunteer situation, receiving more than I give,” she said.
alcorn@vindy.com