Tina Hancock, who lives in Georgia, has managed myasthenia gravis (MG) for decades. She shares how she embraces the present and finds joy while managing MG’s progression.

It’s progressive. Even though I may have moments in a day when it’s bad and then it gets better, and I may have days in a week when it’s kind of bad and it gets better other days — when I look back over the decades, it’s gotten worse.

Right now, I’m trying to come to terms with that, that I know that I’ll probably have to go on a stronger kind of medicine, and my neurologists have told me that. So, you know, I tell myself: “Just enjoy this medicine right now. Just enjoy what it’s doing for you. And don’t worry about the future, because you could walk outside and get hit by a bus, you know, or a piece of space junk.”

I tell myself that all the time. So I just try to be happy in the moment. You can’t worry about the future with MG. You know, you gotta be happy. You gotta be happy in the moment.

And I try to do stuff for other people when I can, even if it’s just writing a card, or sending a nice text or something, because people really appreciate that, especially when they know it’s coming from you, that you’re having a bad day or a bad moment. So that makes me feel good too.