Fall-osophy: My Trip through Life with MS by Ardra Shephard

Gen X has produced a lot of tough-as-nails characters for society to admire, rip apart, or pass by without a thought as the “forgotten generation.” Growing up in the 80s forced many kids to develop self-sufficiency and resilience. Speaking of nails, one Gen X member in particular likes to keep her resiliency coated in a spa manicure and pedicure. It’s not always easy though, and as time progresses with a debilitating inflammatory disease, those physical self-care treats can become arduous. While this memoir comes with a prominent clown car sideshow called multiple sclerosis (MS), the main focus is on how author Arda Shephard deals with her lottery of lemons for nearly a quarter century.

Shephard gives everyone a front row seat from troubling symptoms to diagnosis through stages of body betrayal. In case you are unfamiliar with MS, the first stage known as relapse-remit, while no walk in the park (perhaps literally), still allows one to be functional to varying degrees and duration. Secondary progressive stage occurs when the functions deteriorate into ongoing disability. The best one can hope for is to slow the pace of the disease. At the time of Shephard’s diagnosis in her early 20s, there were certain experimental treatments and prescription medications available used to treat a host of issues like pain management, spasticity, etc. How MS manifests in each person can be as varied as an individual’s personality.

What makes this memoir stand apart from other “I have this disease-look at how I battled it and won/lost” type of bios is that it’s told with a matter-of-factness: there will be no happy ending. But there will be a life well-lived as can be.

While Shephard’s physical body falls in and out of various states of collapse, the core of her being remains mostly uncompromised. Her pages offer a more realistic (and wittier) episode of Sex and the City combined with Jeanne Beker’s Fashion TV, and a blunt episode of The Good Doctor. If you’re not up-to-date on these TV programmes, don’t let that deter you. Toronto has always been a Canadian hub for what’s on-trend in fashion and culture, so if you were a young person in the prime of young adulthood and thirsty for the lifestyle, it would be hard to call it a day when a decades-later life-ending disease called your name without warning.

What makes this memoir stand apart from other “I have this disease-look at how I battled it and won/lost” type of bios is that it’s told with a matter-of-factness: there will be no happy ending. But there will be a life well-lived as can be. There will be partnerships, family, celebrations, and a career. There will be all the stages of grief and time for self-pity. There will be activism, disability pride, and a loud voice to speak up for the others who cannot. In the age of influencers, there will be an international community and perhaps a lasting inspiration for those who have lived with it and to those navigating their own recent diagnosis.

Ardra Shephard is a writer, consultant, podcaster and speaker whose award-winning blog, Tripping On Air, has an international reach and reputation. She is the creator and host of AMI-tv’s lifestyle series Fashion Dis. Her personal essays and non-fiction work have appeared in FASHION, InStyle, Best Health, BezzyMS and other magazines and online publications. Yahoo Lifestyle reported that “@ms_trippingonair is the number-one chronic illness account to follow on Instagram.” Ardra lives in Toronto, ON.

Publisher: Douglas And McIntyre (March 4th, 2025)
Paperback: 9″ x 6″ | 256 pp
ISBN: 9781771624305

Mala Rai

Mala Rai is a poet, drummer, psychology student, and technical writing hired gun on the West Coast. Her most recent poems have appeared in Eclectica Magazine, High Shelf Press, and Anti-Heroin Chic. You can follow her on Instagram @malaraipoetry