So Long, 2016…

(For those who receive this via email, this post contains a video, which can be viewed on the Wheelchair Kamikaze website – click here)

Just a few things to wrap up it up as we bid adieu to 2016, a year that has seen much tumult and turmoil for so many. My Spidey senses are telling me that 2017 may make 2016 look like a powder puff, but then again, three decades ago my Spidey senses told me that I would be the next Mick Jagger, so what the hell do they know? Stupid Spidey senses.

On a much more upbeat note, on Tuesday, December 27, 2016, Wheelchair Kamikaze received its 2.5 millionth page view, according to statistics provided by Google. All I can say to that little factoid is – mind blown. When I first started the blog I never expected more than a couple of dozen people to look at the thing, and even though I strongly suspect that at least 2.45 million of those page views are directly attributable to my mother, I’m still gobsmacked.

Wheelchair Kamikaze hit 1 million page views back in January 2014, about 5 years after I started the blog. Now, we’ve added another 1.5 million page views in only 3 years. Again – mind blown. All I can say is thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you 2.5 million times to everybody who has ever laid eyes on these pages. Though my stupid Spidey senses never saw the unfortunate circumstances that led to Wheelchair Kamikaze coming down the pike, I am eternally grateful to everyone who has animated these pages with their comments, input, and presence. 

We are all in this together, folks, and the only way out is through. You’ve all helped me stumble my way through the body and mind twisting experience of multiple sclerosis, and if I’ve been able to help some of you shoulder the burden even just a little bit then at least there has been some method to the madness. Okay, all together now – MS SUCKS!

For those who might want to read a bit more about yours truly and the back story of the blog, Healthline.com has published a very nice article about WK in conjunction with the blog taking 2^nd place in the website’s Best Health Blog contest (click here). I’d like to profusely thank the writer who penned the article, Elea Carey. She somehow managed to wrangle the veritable deluge of self-indulgent verbosity I sent her way in response to some simple interview questions into a succinct and elegant piece of writing. Maybe I should hire her as the full-time editor of this blog. Lord knows I need one. Stop me before I compound sentence again.

Okay, enough about me, I’ll end this last blog post of the year with an actual MS related item. The much anticipated FDA review of Ocrelizumab, the first drug that has a chance to be approved for the treatment of PPMS (along with an almost guaranteed approval for RRMS), has been delayed. Although the drug was initially slated for FDA review on December 28, that date has now been pushed back to March 28, 2017, due to “manufacturing issues” (click here). I’ve previously written fairly extensively on Ocrelizumab and its late stage trials (click here), and I’ll certainly have more to contribute in the coming weeks. 

Although the medical press is practically hyperventilating about the first drug that stands a very good chance at being approved for use in people with PPMS, there are some valid reasons for concern regarding this product. I’m hoping to interview a representative from Genentech, the manufacturer of Ocrelizumab, which, if it happens, should be pretty interesting. I’m also working on getting some interviews with other prominent figures in the MS world, so stay tuned…

All righty then, here’s to a happy new year to all, and may 2017 bring each of us much more good than bad. I’ll leave you with the following tune from a band I’ve loved ever since I first saw them as a high school sophomore in the late 1970s. To hell with my tingling Spidey senses, how about some unabashed optimism to ring in a brand-new year…