Golf pro, caddy takes her swing at MS

Heather Drew has always been a fierce competitor whether
playing basketball, tennis, or professional golf. That’s
why she won’t allow Multiple Sclerosis to defeat her.

The University of Arizona graduate made a decent living on
the
LPGA tour for nearly 13 years. She used to compete in the
Safeco Classic at Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent,
Wash.

In 1993, Heather Drew’s pro golf career and life were
turned upside down.

“I was playing in a pro-am in Phoenix and started noticing
things weren’t right with my body,” shared Drew. “I had
tingling, some numbness, and one of my feet felt heavy.
At first, I thought, maybe I just tweaked my back, I’m a
golfer right?”

Heather’s first doctor diagnosed her with a neurological
disorder of the spinal cord, which didn’t appear to have
lasting effects.

Three years later, Drew was signing autographs and
couldn’t grip the pen. Her entire left side was numb, her
right side weak from chest down to the feet. She flew
back to California and tests revealed she had a form of
MS.

“It was scary. Pretty much the first thing out of my mouth
was, ‘When will I be in a wheelchair?” Drew admitted
during our interview at her brother’s Seattle home. “That
just shows how little I knew about the disease. Sixteen
years later, I know a lot more about relapsing-remitting
MS, which is the type I have.”

While only 400,000 Americans have the debilitating disease
of the central nervous system, the Pacific Northwest
unfortunately, is an MS hot bed. There are more than
12,000 known cases here, with no known cure and no
logical explanation for its prominence.

Each day, Heather injects herself with Copaxone, a
medicine
which controls her symptoms. It allows her to be strong
enough to lug around a 40-pound golf bag as a caddy for
her friend and golf professional Allison Finney. They
will be paired this Sunday in the LPGA Legends Swing for
the Cure at Inglewood Country Club in Kenmore, Wash.

If you’re a golf fan, you’ll love watching greats like Jan
Stephenson, Pat Bradley, Amy Alcott, Rosie Jones, and
Kirkland own JoAnne Carner. The 18-hole
tournament gives 100 percent of ticket proceeds to Susan
G. Komen for the Cure Puget Sound, an organization
dedicated to ending breast cancer forever.

Make sure to look for the caddy wearing the white “Team
Capaxone” ball cap. Heather Drew will be having fun and
living life to the fullest.