Ragland handling MS on the trails

By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
Grace Ragland spent much of her childhood years figuring out ways to keep from exerting much energy.
Any sport or activity that caused her body fatigue was something to be avoided - all common symptoms of relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis, a disease she has spent most of her life battling.
But it isn’t the disease that dictates Ragland’s life. She has continued to defy odds with a strict diet, exercise and medication regimen that has allowed her to become one of the nation’s top-ranked mountain bike racers.
In 2007, Ragland won the Snake Creek Gap Races in Dalton, Ga., and the Huntsville native hasn’t looked back.
She also has a state championship from the Tennessee Bicycle Race Association’s Women’s Sport 30-and-over division and a second place finish in the USA Cycling National Championships.
Her climb to the elite ranks in the sport have also helped her become a source of inspiration to the thousands living each day with Multiple Sclerosis. Sponsored by Teva Neuroscience as a member of Team COPAXONE, the drug that helps her keep her Multiple Sclerosis in check - Ragland shows that those affected by MS can continue to lead normal and active lifestyles.
Now she serves as an advocate as well as a competitor.
More than championships, though, Ragland has been a source of inspiration for others living with the disease that currently has no cure.
Ragland was living with Multiple Sclerosis, a auto-immune disease in which the body’s immune response attacks the central nervous system.
Left unchecked, Ragland lived with the disease until she was finally diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1980.
She was first diagnosed with the disease when she was 18, but Ragland knew there were issues as early as eight years earlier.
Ragland battled trouble with eyesight, numbness on the inside of her legs and incognition troubles, all common traits of the disease. But she went through her daily routine without the help of any medications.
Ragland wasn’t prescribed any medicine to keep her Multiple Sclerosis in check until 1998, almost two decades after initially being diagnosed with the disease.
Ragland’s foray into athletics began several years ago when she started running and eventually competed in several ultra-marathons around the area. But Ragland switched gears when she took a ride on a mountain bike for the first time.
Pretty soon, Ragland’s competitive nature took over, and, with a little prodding from a friend she began to ride in mountain bike races around the Southeast.
Training at Monte Sano Mountain, Ragland found herself faced with the challenge of keeping up with veteran male trail riders.
Ragland credits keeping the MS in check can be attributed to her diet, exercise and dedication to following her medication routine.
Ragland, once wracked with fatigue, now trains 8-12 hours a week on her mountain bike. But she also handles a full slate of activities, including holding down three jobs: as an alterations specialist at a Huntsville clothing store, as an aerobic instructor and as a national advocate for the battle against Multiple Sclerosis.