Pro golfer with multiple sclerosis to play in Federal Way tournament

Stuart SchlossmanAn MS Patients Story

Heather Drew began golfing as a young girl but retired in 1999 after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease that attacks the Central Nervous System. In 2011 she returned to her professional career. Drew will compete at the 2014 Pepsi Northwest Women’s Open in Federal Way July 21-23. - Contributed photo

Heather Drew began golfing as a young girl but retired in 1999 after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease that attacks the Central Nervous System. In 2011 she returned to her professional career. Drew will compete at the 2014 Pepsi Northwest Women’s Open in Federal Way July 21-23.

— Image Credit: Contributed Photo

Since she was a child, Heather Drew knew she wanted to compete in the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
She graduated from University of Arizona in 1981 and just a few months later turned pro.
“It was something I really wanted to do,” she said.
For the next 18 years, Drew competed in tournaments, taking second place several times as well as making the top 10 often, she said.
Drew will be one of as many as 60 women to participate in the 2014 Pepsi Northwest Women’s Open at Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club in Federal Way.
Drew describes golf as a sport that needs single-minded focus to overcome the challenges — and her own golfing career has included many adversities.
In 1996 she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an incurable, chronic disease that attacks the Central Nervous System.
When she was diagnosed, Drew was afraid of the unknown, she said.
“I just thought everything was over,” she said.
Drew didn’t know much about MS before her diagnosis, and when she received it her misconceptions painted a picture of a life much different than her golfing career, she said. She thought she might need a walker or a wheelchair. But each case of MS can manifest itself differently, and Drew’s manifestation is numbness, she said.
People often think multiple sclerosis is always debilitating ­­— and Drew thought so too, at first.
“[But] if you have MS, it doesn’t mean your life is over,” Drew said.
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