An MS Patient’s story: Resilient Ann Romney has key role in husband’s campaign Read more: Resilient Ann Romney has key role in husband’s campaign

“I was definitely burned out after the last experience,” she said during a ride on the Mitt Romney campaign bus, which sported a banner across the window from a “Keep Michigan on the Move” campaign by her late father-in-law, Gov. George Romney.

Mitt Romney’s failed 2008 presidential race left his wife of 42 years emotionally drained, she confessed. “You have expectations. It is crushing; it takes a lot out of your life.”

When they considered Romney’s run this time, she initially thought, “Well, not doing that one again.” He reminded her on stage recently that she said the same thing after the birth of each of their five sons.

Their spirits should be buoyed at this moment, given Romney’s rise to the top of polls in Iowa just before the Republican caucuses on Tuesday. An NBC-Marist poll released Friday showed Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul virtually tied for the lead among likely caucus-goers.

Wearing white pearls to offset her black pants and sweater, the former first lady of Massachusetts was readying to introduce her husband at Kinzler Construction Co. It’s her role at each stop on his Iowa bus tour.

At 62, a grandmother of 16, she has dealt with situations far more devastating than her husband’s losing the GOP nomination to Arizona Sen. John McCain three years ago. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998, she struggled immediately with how to behave as a sick person. Before that, Ann Romney ran the household — cooking meals, paying bills, mothering their children.

“I was in a pretty bad hole,” she said. “I went from being completely normal to hardly being able to get out of bed. I was really, really sick, completely fatigued.” Her medications, she said, made her feel worse. “I kept thinking, ‘I am not getting better, and this is now my life?’ “

She still gets teary-eyed at the memory of her husband’s response, when she knew her role in the family had changed. “He told me, ‘Don’t worry about it; we will be OK. Those things that you do don’t matter. You matter,’ ” she recalled. “It took this huge burden away, that I could be sick.”

Eventually, her goal became not to be sick — though in 2008, she weathered a second health scare when a mammogram detected early-stage breast cancer. She underwent a lumpectomy. She found that riding horses helps her to manage her MS, and she has become an accomplished amateur competitor in equestrian contests.

Ann Romney’s engaging presence is an important aspect to the campaign.