TFC’s Demitrius Omphroy not letting multiple sclerosis slow him down – thestar.com
As with any elite athlete, Omphroy, a 21-year-old rookie defender with Toronto FC, has had to overcome challenges to get here. But his have been on a different scale — fears he was going blind at age 17 as he tried to crack the lineup of a professional soccer team in Portugal; enduring what felt like electric shocks through his body and the loss of feeling in one foot last year.
That second episode sent him from chiropractors to doctors to specialists. Their conclusion had an impact that goes well beyond the playing field.
Omphroy has multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and central nervous system and can have debilitating symptoms.
“I was shocked,” Omphroy recalls of the diagnosis, which came from a neurologist in February of last year following an MRI. “I was like: ‘I can’t believe I have a disease that has left people in wheelchairs.’
“Just the thought of that, of me having to be in a wheelchair sometime in my life, is scary. You hear about a friend of a friend who knows somebody who has it, but you never think it’s something that’s going to happen to you.”
Far from ending his dreams of playing professional soccer, Omphroy, a native of California’s San Francisco Bay area, firmly believes his disease has, in many ways, made him better.
His diet has improved dramatically, more greens and fish, no alcohol or caffeine. Each night, he injects Copaxone, a drug used to treat his form of the disease, and ensures that he gets enough sleep to train the next day.
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