Embrace Change

“I haven’t had any other type of experience that has changed me so much in such a short time. I entered my FD trip unsure, nervous and worried — but five days later, I walked away a different person. Someone who was more self-assured. Someone who was kinder to herself. Someone who held her head up just a little bit higher.”

On a random Sunday morning in May of 2018, Francie “Savage” Kinney woke up to a puzzling case of double vision. Two days later, she walked herself into an ER, only to completely lose control of the right side of her body later that day. 

“At the age of 35, I was gobsmacked,” she shares. “At first I thought I was having a stroke, but when that didn’t pan out, my medical team had a hard time deciding what was going on.”

It’s a common theme for so many with an eventual MS diagnosis: Savage wound up being in the hospital for a month trying to regain some of what she had lost physically, mentally and verbally. She had to use a walker to leave the hospital. 

“As someone who had taken up running in 2014 and then ran five half-marathons, many 10Ks and several 5Ks, it was a very surreal and sobering moment,” she says.

Later that year, Savage had to have spinal surgery. “I was only supposed to be in the hospital a couple of days at most,” she explains. “However, when I came around, I was back in acute rehab, and I stayed there an entire month. My body and mind had flared up again, and they were angry! However, it wasn’t until January of 2019, when I rolled myself into the Rocky Mountain MS Center at UCHealth for a second opinion, that I would get an official multiple sclerosis diagnosis of relapsing-remitting. It was a tough pill to swallow, to say the least. But I started my Tysabri infusions right away.”

After six years of treatments, including physical therapy, speech language pathology, occupational therapy and hydrotherapy, Savage says she’s made progress, especially physically. “I started as a walker-dependent person, and I’m now an independent walker who sometimes has to use a hiking stick,” she says. “The cognitive front is a little more sluggish to respond; I’m still on disability and not working to this day.”

“Life has a way of taking us on our own journey”

“As a former overachiever and Type A person, if you had told me that at age 35 I’d be using a walker and put on disability, I would have laughed in your face,” she says. “Life has a way of taking us on our own journey. It’s hard sometimes, but I try to remember how far I’ve come and focus on that. I think trying to remain positive and keeping the hope alive is the best thing you can do!”

Savage, who was born in Maine and has lived in 22 cities across 10 states, first heard about First Descents when she moved to her current home in Denver in 2014. “Back then, First Descents was only for cancer patients, and my sister-in-law’s brother had just been diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer,” she explains. “He was a former Marine who used to do that crazy ‘go out in the wild with a fork and survive’ kind of stuff, so I thought he’d really enjoy one of the First Descent’s Core Programs. Sadly, he declined too quickly to attend.”

Fast-forward to 2022, when her multiple sclerosis diagnosis had led her to the MS Young Professionals Group connected to the Rocky Mountain MS Center: “I was at a meeting where, lo and behold, First Descents was joining us to talk about their programs that had now been opened up to MS patients as well. I was not able to apply at that time as I was not far enough along in my recovery from the onset of my MS, but I always kept FD in the back of my mind.”

Savage says it took her two summers to gain the confidence to submit an inquiry for a Core Program, though. She was really missing being outdoors and in nature, and so she submitted an inquiry to start the process of being placed on a Core Program.

Overcoming the doubts and finding your people

“What appealed to me about getting on a program is that I was previously very active outdoors — running, doing races and escaping to the mountains to go hiking. I even did three 14ers before I got sick,” she says. “I had missed being outdoors and in nature. I‘m very heat intolerant with my MS and am still gaining a lot of my strength and energy back. The idea of being on the river to keep me cool in the summer was very enticing to me!”

The river she wound up cooling off in was the Rogue in Oregon, in July of 2024. But because Savage also deals with other health issues on top of MS — among them a pacemaker, a second neurological disease, cognitive issues and a lung disorder — she was really doubting her ability to complete the full week. 

“I never went to summer camp as a kid, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from spending such a large chunk of time with strangers,” she says. “I also was concerned I wasn’t in good enough shape to participate, and between that and my heat intolerance, I was worried that I’d be sitting inside all week.”

Her fears wound up being unfounded: “There were fit people in my group, but there were also people like me in my group — it was a variety of physical and mental abilities,” she explains. “I may have felt like an outsider at first, as anyone does when meeting a bunch of strangers, but the kindness and openness of my fellow MSers soon dismissed that feeling.”

She also felt very seen by the FD staff members on the trip with her, which led to her nickname. “During one of our trips in the vans, Postal [Lead Staff Sara Connell] was helping me brainstorm. As we went through my various medical adventures and geographic history, we focused on the tenacity I have had to survive it all and keep moving forward with a smile. Postal was throwing out different names, and when she said ‘Savage,’ I resonated with that. She could tell by how my eyes lit up when she said the word that it was the one. It also didn’t hurt that my nickname came with its own theme song!” 

Savage also confesses that she has always had issues with self-esteem and body image, but during her kayaking program, she realized that her preconceived notions were being challenged.

“My body got me through the trip, during which I had to admit things aren’t as bad as I sometimes picture them. At the final family circle, ‘Polo’ recognized me as the most improved kayaker, going from someone who was so sure she couldn’t do it to someone who was actually going down the whitewater rapids with a huge smile on my face.” 

What happens after the Core Program is over?

Not only did she feel like everyone on the program was patient and kind, she wound up building a group of lifelong friends with similar multiple sclerosis diagnosis issues who check in with each other on WhatsApp and are already planning a reunion. “One of our participants is going to do a bike race in Washington and some of us are already making plans to go cheer her on,” she says. 

In addition, she has continued to pursue outdoor and indoor adventures every chance she gets, including participating in FD’s locally led Community Adventures. “I LOVE that Community Adventures keeps you active throughout the year,” she says, adding that she plans to add more of them to her calendar whenever possible.

“I haven’t had any type of other experience that has changed me so much in such a short time. I entered the trip unsure, nervous and worried … but five days later I walked away a different person. Someone who was more self-assured. Someone who was kinder to herself. Someone who held her head up just a little bit higher. When I am having an off day, I try to remember that girl who walked away from the trip and emulate her.”