In 1998, Ann Romney knew something was wrong–she started losing her balance and was constantly exhausted. Even the thought of getting the mail and opening an envelope felt overwhelming.
When she was officially diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the timing could not have been worse. It was around the time her husband Mitt had been hired as CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and they would soon leave their supportive network in Boston to move to Utah.
But, as she told the crowd at Intermountain Heber Valley Hospital’s Ladies Night Wednesday, that “bad” timing transformed her life. And returning to the Heber Valley was an emotional full-circle moment for her.
As a longtime city girl, Ann decided to revisit her childhood love of horses so she grabbed the phone book and called Margo Gogan of Hilltop Dressage in Heber. Ann said medications had stopped the progression of the disease but getting on a horse helped her regain her strength and clear her brain in a way nothing else could.
“My life completely turned around," she said. "And I promise you if I'd stayed in Boston, I would be in a wheelchair and I would be very sick. I came out here. I got in these beautiful mountains. I got on a horse, I had friends. And I did alternative therapies. I had my life back. It took three years before I felt really well again. And Margo was on that journey with me.”
Margo said when Ann initially called, she told her she was too busy to take her on as a client, which didn’t go over so well for Ann.
“One day she showed up at my barn, dressed in boots and breeches and the helmet," said Margo. "She didn't even go home–she just flew into Salt Lake and she came up to the barn. And I remember looking at her and thinking, ‘you pushy broad.’ And anyway, long story short, it took five minutes when we were able to get together to work with a horse. And in five minutes, I felt so close to her. And we have just been great friends ever since.”
It’s that same tenacity that fueled Ann to help found the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2014. Ann said the Boston research center’s 375 researchers are on a collaborative global pursuit to accelerate treatments, prevention and cures for five of the world's most complex neurological diseases: multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, ALS, Parkinson’s disease and brain tumors.
“It's an amazing thing that's happening, she said. "That idea for a nasal vaccine for Alzheimer's took almost five years to run through FDA approval to try to figure out dosage. We've been one year in human trials in Boston. And now we're starting our second year and it's working.”
She said they’re also making breakthroughs in Parkinson’s, ALS and MS. “And so my brilliant researcher is working on and has developed for the first time a medication and a drug for progressive MS. So we're really, really proud of the work.”
Ann was also diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in 2009 and advocating for women’s health has become her passion. She said it’s a universal truth that women take on too many responsibilities and they need to prioritize meditating, breathing, taking time for themselves and finding pathways for healing in both traditional and alternative medicines.
“It's been an amazing journey," she said. "And for me, it's worth everything to say to people that have had their lives touched with one of these horrible neurologic diseases: ‘Help is on the way. And for sure, hope is on the way.’”
Help. Hope. And, Ann’s ultimate goal is to ensure healing is on the way as well.
