Help A Mother Fight Against Multiple Sclerosis

Meet Marqui Taylor.

 

She is also a woman with, relapse remitting, MS.

 

Due to the degeneration of her disease, she has been rendered unemployed and considered medically disabled. She is presently in the tedious process of receiving disability, a process that may take years for her to be formally approved, years that she does not have the luxury of gambling with. In the meantime, out-of-pocket medical bills are mounting and the quality of her family’s life is suffering because of it.

 

Marqui has been a dedicated birth worker (in the city of Philadelphia, Baltimore and surrounding areas) guiding mothers through pregnancy and miscarriages, helping mothers fearlessly birth babies during labor and heal during postpartum realities and medically advocating for every aspect of mother’s gestational needs.

This is why, I am humbly calling on that same community to come together and help this mother battle an ever-changing, debilitating disease and the unfortunate circumstances it has placed her family.

 

In retrospect, being diagnosed with MS at age 21 was a blessing. 12 years later, I am proud of my spirit’s commitment to resilience, research, and (eventual) healthy acceptance of that which could not be wished away. – Marqui Taylor

 

In August 2021, after a longstanding battle with the medical system, Marqui was able to procure a neurologist who honored collaborative engagement with MS patients, something not readily available within the MS community. Together, she and her doctor decided to start her on an innovative, experimental treatment, a treatment that only became FDA approved just two years prior.

 

Mavenclaud has been tested to maintain and/or improve some of an MS patient’s body functionality. However, most people don't see improvement until 6 months after completing the two-year treatment. Presently, Marqui has completed her first year, but she is still miles away from the end goal: consistent functional living.

 

My lack of consistent body function has made birth work too risky to continue doing. While giving up the thing that brings my life fulfillment was internally painful, this disability has me, consistently, in literal pain. It has progressed to a point where I’m unable to hold regular employment due to my employer’s frustration about my shifting immobility (people who fall are a liability, so I don’t fault them for those frustrations). I recently applied to SSDI, but awaiting a decision takes a minimum of a year. In the meantime, I’ve been unable to pay for basic things…those day-to-day costs that come with being a disabled mom with two kids under 8. It’s definitely a lot, but I have faith. In fact, I have an abundance of it. I mean, how could I not? – Marqui Taylor

 

 

Dear you: we are asking for your help, on Marqui’s behalf. Throughout the years I’ve come to know her a supporter, an innovator and a caregiver to all who surround her. While we cannot fight her medical battles with her, we can, collectively, make sure that she isn’t fighting two battles at once: one of them to live, the other one, to survive. Her family’s livelihood is on the line, so any amount will help more than I could ever explain.

- SBA