During 1997, Ann Romney began experiencing severe numbness, fatigue and other symptoms. Just before Thanksgiving in 1998, Ann was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
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Mitt Romney described watching her fail a series of neurological tests as the worst day of his life. He later stated: "I couldn't operate without Ann. We're a partnership. We've always been a partnership so her being healthy and our being able to be together is essential."


Needless to say that Ann at first experienced a period of severe difficulty with her illness. Ann later admitted: "I was very sick in 1998 when I was diagnosed. I was pretty desperate, pretty frightened and very, very sick. It was tough at the beginning, just to think, this is how I'm going to feel for the rest of my life."

Since then, Ann credits a mixture of mainstream and alternative treatments with giving her a lifestyle mostly without limitations. She initially used corticosteroids, including intravenously and credited them with helping stop the progression of the disease. She then dropped them and other medications due to counterproductive side effects. Ann has later used reflexology, acupuncture and craniosacral therapy to treat her illness. Ann quoted as saying: "There is huge merit in both Eastern and Western medicine, and I've taken a little bit from both."

It has to be noted that now Ann is a board member for the New England chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.


In an emotional interview, Ann Romney revealed the despair she felt when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 14 years ago, confessing to ABC's Robin Roberts that she found herself in a "dark hole."

Ann called the time following her diagnosis "my darkest hour" and confessed that she "ripped up all the pictures" taken of her at that time.

In the interview with "Good Morning America," Romney claimed her illness had gone into remission. She stated she drew inspiration from friends and family and hoped she could inspire the people she met on the trail. "Now I can relate to someone who's going through a really hard time. ... I can say I know what you feel like. I know how hard it is."

Much of that goodwill has arisen from her speaking honestly about how she battled breast cancer, her multiple sclerosis diagnosis and the depression that followed.

"It humbled me," Romney quoted as saying. "It crushed me to dust." Romney credited her recovery to her "passion" for horses, including using the animals in her physical therapy.

Despite the struggle she had when initially diagnosed, she'd told herself: "There will be a brighter day."

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