I Have Multiple Sclerosis. Here's Why I Am Fighting for Medicare for All

"So friends, family, fellow patriots," writes Mills, "please do not consider this injustice as one lesser than the other injustices you fight against on a daily basis. Consider the cruelty inflicted on the ill and disabled when we are told that we are not important enough to receive the civil right of healthcare, or that we must be patient and wait for it." (Photo: iStock/Getty Images)

Every morning, the first thought I have in the first millisecond that I am awake, is that I can’t do it—I can’t go to work, for a walk, to the gallery, to my studio, I can’t get out of bed. And almost every morning, I do anyway. Imagine that you have the flu every day. That is not so far off from how I feel. And the flu days are the regular days; things can get much worse from there. This statement is not hyperbole.

I live daily with hot, stabbing nerve pain, muscles so tight that they refuse to bend to do what they should, muscle spasms all over my body that keep me awake at night, legs that ache like I have a fever, problems with my vision, dizziness, arms and legs that go numb and weak at inopportune times like when I am supposed to be driving or walking, bladder problems, and the most crippling fatigue you can possibly imagine. Not the kind of fatigue during which you binge watch a show on Netflix; the kind of fatigue during which you moan and cry and feel nauseous.