But for Heather Cristea, it was.

Just ask her.

“MS was one of the heaviest weights that has ever been put on my … (it) was a battle I didn’t think I was going to beat,” she said. “When I was knocked down so far, it wound up being one of the biggest blessings I ever had.

“It really showed me what mattered in life. It makes you reconsider what you’re doing.”

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Heather Cristea works out at the Youngsville branch of the YMCA. Her fitness journey, which included an MS diagnosis, has resulted in lost weight, but also the ability to keep up with her kids.

It started with floaters in her left eye in 2017 but the eye doctor found nothing wrong and sent her to the ER. After a series of tests and a hospital transfer, she got the diagnosis.

“Things continued to get worse,” she said. “I couldn’t get up the stairs or get out of bed.”

During this period she also found out that she was pregnant.

“So, here I am pregnant with hormones racing, terrified and being pumped with steroids,” she said. “The steroids I had proceeded to send me on a ride of terrible mental health and I went insane. I was in a psych ward for almost a month.”

But the MS was still flaring and a repeat steroid treatment wasn’t the answer.

“I’m gaining weight at an alarming rate — and not just from the pregnancy,” she recalled. My MS went into remission. To this day, I give credit to me beautiful Arbor Brycelynn.”

With a healthy daughter, that’s when it hit her how much weight she had gained.

“Once I started thinking clearly again, I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize myself.”

That sent her into what she described as a “spiraling depression on top of baby blues.”

A year later, it was the concern of her husband that would ultimately prompt a massive life change.

“My husband told me he was worried about my health,” she said.

She said he told her he wanted her to live a long time.

“When my husband told me that, I started trying to lose weight with just my body. I needed to go to therapy to get in the right mindset first and I didn’t realize that.”

So she started eating better, cutting coffee consumption and going to the YMCA.

“To be honest, when I started, I wasn’t thrilled and optimistic,” she said. “Cutting back coffee to one day a week, eating better and drinking less beer was absolutely not thrilling. Until I started losing weight. Then a light bulb went off….”

That light bulb has turned into 130 pounds lost.

“I can chase my kids around and keep up with them,” she said. “Not carrying around the weight of an extra person has also helped me tremendously when my MS flares.”

“My answer to that isn’t how, it’s why,” she said. “That’s it. It’s why. If you don’t have a big enough why, guess what? You’re going to have ‘why nots.’ (You are) going to keep coming up with excuses not to get it done. (You) gotta have a good reason.”

Now, she’s looking to share the hope and joy that she’s experienced with others.

“I want to get an MS fundraiser going in this area. I think that’s important,” she said. “There are quite a few people around her that have MS. I want to bring awareness to that.”

She’s also going to be involved in a “YMCA Goal Crushers” Facebook page designed to provide support and encouragement along the way.

“I had people pushing me and motivating me,” she said. “I want the community to get together and help each other out.”