Arlene Aldawaimeh Starts Every Day With a Smile, Even on the Hard Days

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As MSSA celebrates 75 years, Arlene Aldawaimeh closes the MS hero series with a hopeful story about living fully while navigating MS.

South Africa (09 December 2025) – Today, we meet Arlene Aldawaimeh, who joins a group of inspiring South Africans who are sharing their journeys of living with Multiple Sclerosis. These heroes have been sharing their life stories in an effort to raise awareness about the disease and in honour of the 75th anniversary of Multiple Sclerosis South Africa. To date, we have met eleven heroes who have helped to dispel misconceptions and challenge stereotypes, and Arlene is our final MS hero of 2025!

The disease is still underrepresented in South Africa, but that is changing! Multiple Sclerosis South Africa (MSSA) is raising the profile of the disease, offering support for families and raising funds to help make a difference.

With this incredible interview series, we have been able to learn the unique stories of everyday South Africans who navigate MS, honouring their lives, facing loss and learning to thrive. The hope for this series has been to create a body of work that can be a useful point of reference when someone is newly diagnosed. These MS heroes have bravely shared the details of their struggles to show that, despite the shock of a diagnosis, there is hope. There is life!

MSSA’s goal is to unite Africa and create a federation for the continent that will empower thousands of people suffering from these health issues. And in a world where state healthcare struggles to meet basic demands, they unite those who face uncertainty in treatment, advocating for change!

As we round off the 75th anniversary, diamond jubilee celebrations, we thank every gem of a human who shared their story with us this year.

Arlene Starts Every Day With a Smile.

Arlene Aldawaimeh has been in the corporate world most of her life, and despite her MS diagnosis in 2013, she was able to adapt and work through various landscape changes within the corporate space. However, post-pandemic, her physical ability shifted, and she had to adapt. At 54, she found herself on the cusp of a career change, moving away from her daily commute to a home-based job helping people make their wildest travel dreams a reality.

For Arlene, travel has always been something she loved doing, saying that she preferred to spend time in the bush versus the mall. She loved photography and joked that her camera bag was always heavier than her clothes bag. These days, travel is a little more strenuous, but she now gets her satisfaction helping others travel the world.

She has curated a beautiful space at home, where her love of gardening has helped her create tranquil spaces that she can escape to when the desire to be in nature takes over. Arlene also indulges in wildlife documentaries and really enjoys engineering shows. So while she cannot travel as much as she used to, she has adapted and finds joy in smaller moments.

For Arlene, the diagnosis process was long. For two years, she experienced side effects and unexplained flares. By November 2013, she finally got her diagnosis. Arlene said she just felt a huge relief. But thinking her biggest battle was over, she realises now that there are highs and lows, but choosing what you give your energy to plays a major role in what your life looks like going forward.

“Aside from all the negative things, I don’t like to give too much space in my life, or MS has taken plenty, but also made me a lot more sympathetic towards others fighting their own battles. I now have to make a conscious decision which battles are worth engaging in, and this has had a great positive impact on my life. Learning to walk away from conflict is a lot more forgiving and despite contrary beliefs, it’s not a sign of weakness.”

My faith in God has been reignited, and I do not fear the tomorrows I live with, whatever I have to deal with today, no matter what that looks like, including making plans to still travel and enjoy as much of the wild and my life as I can.”

Every MS hero has their own take on what the biggest challenges are, because every case is different. Arlene’s hope going forward in life is that she is remembered for more than just having MS. Choosing to start each day positively has become her mantra. But a challenge she faces has been finding the right team to help her with specific physical exercise.

“I’ve been really searching for the right professionals to assist me currently with specific physical exercise. So, engage in activities that stimulate muscles and core development, and looking at specific targeted areas. One thing I’m really sorry about is that I didn’t do this earlier when I was a lot more mobile.”

For those who find themselves on this journey, Arlene has some sage advice:

“You are braver and stronger than you realise, more resilient than anybody will ever give you credit for. When you feel like giving up, look back at what you have already overcome and then tell me your immediate situation is stronger than you are.

Dig deeper and reward yourself when you have achieved that small, insignificant victory that others won’t notice, but to us it’s a massive personal victory… Choose to remember what that feels like!!”

What is Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. It interrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body. Symptoms can range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis.

Every case is proving unique, and the progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving closer to a world free of MS.

Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 2.9 million people worldwide. MS is one of the most common diseases of the central nervous system.

There is so much more to the disease, which we have shared for World MS Day 2023 here.