Selma Blair stands strong through the ups and downs of life with multiple sclerosis (MS).
The 49-year-old actress was diagnosed with the disease in 2018. She has recently shared a candid look, revealing how she is managing MS while having a career and taking care of her son Arthur, 10.
On Tuesday, Blair marked Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month by posting a video on Instagram of herself over the last few years. She shared her time in the hospital undergoing treatments to manage her pain to hanging out with BFF Sarah Michelle Gellar and Arthur. She even posed glamorously with the cane she uses to walk.
She captioned the video, “March is #MSAwareness month,” which is set to Zendaya and Labrinth’s new song “I’m Tired” from the Euphoria finale. “May we all find the strength to persevere.”
MS is a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system), according to Mayo Clinic. In MS, the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body. The disease causes permanent damage to the nerves.
Blair shared an even deeper look into her world last fall with the documentary “Introducing, Selma Blair.” She showed the difficulties she has been experiencing after undergoing a life-altering stem cell treatment to restart her immune system.
She previously told PEOPLE, “It was a really hard time in my life. People don’t say how excruciating, emotionally, it can be to kind of prove you’re not well. But I want to tell the truth about MS. It is important to me that people see what living with a chronic illness is like.”
The treatment she underwent required an aggressive course of chemotherapy and she had a long recovery. However, Blair has seen “huge improvements” in her MS symptoms since the treatment and now she can move more easily.
Her MS is in remission, but the disease is incurable, and “the severe fatigue is still such a gargantuan boulder in my way,” she said.
But “I’m working on it. Little by little, I can do all these things,” she added. “I mean, I can’t say I could go running, but I can jog down to the mailbox if I were to practice a few times.”
Blair has also been dealing with some issues in her home life. In February, she filed for a protective order against Ronald Carlson, her former boyfriend, alleging that he physically attacked her.
She had to go to the hospital with bruising and marks on her neck, chin, and hands, which was captured in photos by the Los Angeles Police Department. Blair was granted the restraining order, as per the documents obtained by PEOPLE.
