Note: Last year, Spectrum News 1 introduced viewers and readers to Delaney Parker, a new author whose debut novel was based on her own, very painful experience living with multiple sclerosis. An anonymous donor saw the story and offered to pay for Parker to undergo advanced treatments at the Stram Center for Integrative Medicine.

With cautious optimism, Delaney Parker walked into the Stram Center back in December to start new treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS).

“I didn’t have expectations, especially not what’s happening with me now,” said Parker.

For years, her pain had been unbearable, confining Parker to her bed most days.

“What we saw when she first came here, she had difficulty walking, her cognition was challenging because she had memory loss, she had difficult with word finding,” said Dr. Ronald Stram. 

Stram and his team quickly identified Parker’s autoimmune disease was compounded by Epstein Barr Virus and a tick-borne illness, which Parker never knew.

Her care now consists of weekly vitamin shots, intravenous antibody treatment and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

“After four days of antibiotics and probiotics, I could really see a difference,” said Parker.

In October 2021, Delaney tearfully shared all of the ways MS had robbed her of joy.

“I couldn’t be a mom and I couldn’t be a wife. I couldn’t be a friend. I couldn’t be anything that I ever was. I was missing me so much,” said Parker.

Today, they are tears of joy because her pain is more manageable.

“I can walk, I can talk, I can pick up my kids, and that’s all I ever really wanted,” said Parker.

She still has hard moments and some of the symptoms of MS will always be with her. But she said the gifts the treatment has allowed for, such as being more present with her children, makes up for it.

“It all happened because this donor. He was generous enough to give to me. Whoever you are – he, she, they – thank you so much. Because I have my kids, and that’s really all that matters. I get to be their mom again,” said Parker.

Parker is now in the process of writing her second book, the sequel to her novel “Grace.”