the Many
Faces of Single
When 63-year-old Jay Gurmankin of Salt Lake City was diagnosed with MS in 1981, he didn’t let the disease slow him down. “I
decided to have as much fun as I can,” he said, “and
I’m glad I did.” Gurmankin bills himself as the kind of
guy who hasn’t left many fun tickets unpunched. Seven
years after his diagnosis, he sailed to the Caribbean,
Venezuela and Europe on a 180-day tour.
Single now after three marriages, Gurmankin’s light-hearted attitude has served him well. He has an active
social life complete with visits to sports bars, traveling
across country to watch his daughter race horses—and
dating.
But his style of social life would be a tall order for the
estimated 23% of people with MS who live alone. Still,
almost no one lives in a vacuum. Almost everyone has
some connections—friends, relatives, even potential
partners who come in and out of one’s life. If you’re
single and living with MS, those people may become
your lifeline.
