January 26, 2011 MLS--Omphroy Unburdened (from TorontoFC.ca)

Omphroy Unburdened
Rookie candid about playing through multiple sclerosis.
Mike Ulmer
TorontoFC.ca
January 26, 2011

Demitrius Omphroy has a lavish tattoo that reaches up his chest and into the folds of his neck.

The tattoo depicts the Virgin with baby in her arms.

The crucifix is yet to come.

Omphroy, drafted in the second round of the MLS SuperDraft by Toronto FC, already knows what his crucifix feels like. It manifested himself when he was 17, playing in Portugal.

“I woke up one morning and couldn’t get full vision,” he said. “As the day went on, it went from 50-30 per cent vision in my eye.”

Omphroy was pulled off the field. Eventually he was sent back home to Northern California. “My parents wanted me to come home to find out what was wrong.”

Still looking for clues, Omphroy underwent an MRI a year ago. It took only seconds for technicians to identify the mysterious ailment. At 20, Demitrius Omphroy now knew what he had: Multiple Sclerosis.

A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Demitrius Omphroy is a defender/winger with excellent instincts and terrific quickness. He is also about as engaging as a 21-year-old can be and the absolute manifestation of the idea that no one is allotted a burden he is incapable of bettering.

MS affects the ability of the brain to pass signals down the spinal cord and to the outlying areas of the body. It is hideously unpredictable and its attacks are random in intensity and location. When it hits, balance and movement can be compromised and some material indicates that MS can significantly shorten lifespan.

That a professional athlete is playing through the disease is a wonder that would dwarf 20-goal seasons by everyone else on the roster.

Demitrius only knows one other person who has MS. The thought of an MS role model is something he never considered.

Instead, he learned the seven injection sites on his body and how and when to administer his daily meditation.  He learned the patterns of the disease and how some versions of MS attack more frequently than another.

He is a self-described Momma’s Boy. The tattoo was a tribute to the mother who had just seen a movie on the bible when her son was born. Demitrius felt right.

Demitrius controls his disease as best he can. What he can control, fully, is his attitude.

“MS shouldn’t prevent you from living your life to the fullest,” he said. “I’m going to keep going. It’s not going to stop me.”

But Demitrius also knows there is no category for athletes with MS. This, whether he likes it or not, is the task he has been handed.

And here’s the thing you need to know about one of the newest members of Toronto FC:  he wants the burden.

“If they ask me to be the poster boy to talk about MS,” he said, “I will accept it with open arms.”

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