While on a recruiting trip in 2004, IU women’s soccer coach Mick Lyon went for a run through the hills of England, his native country. He said he felt fine, but the next day he could hardly walk. Lyon hid the odd feelings in his legs for a month before seeking medical help. Soon after, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a disease that affects the nervous system.
What made Lyon’s case of MS atypical was that two years earlier his wife had been diagnosed with the same disease.
“That’s extremely unusual,” said Dr. David Mattson, director for the IU School of Medicine’s Neuroimmunology/Multiple Sclerosis Program. “Occasionally people will meet because of their MS and get married, but I’ve never had a situation like that.”