Scott McCormack, who lives in California, was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG) in 2014. He shares about when localized MG symptoms struck in a most unfortunate moment.

When it first came on, and I really didn’t know what it was — before I retired, I did a lot of traveling for work and gave presentations and whatnot to different groups and customers around the country. And I was with a group of about probably 30 or 40 people, and I was in the middle of talking, and originally, when it was localized, it affected my jaw, lips, and a little bit of a droopy eye.

And I was about five minutes into a 20-minute presentation, and I noticed my tongue was getting thick. And I started slurring my words, and it was a morning presentation. I certainly didn’t want people thinking that I had drunk a little before the presentation, so it was very awkward. With every word I spoke, I could feel it was getting worse.

I resolved it in this case by slowing down, taking a breath, and then I cut it very short. I ad-libbed a bit, telling people that, “Why don’t we now break into small groups?” Later on, when I was on medication, it became less of a problem. But in the beginning, it was very awkward.