A TV Show Broke My Emotions

One thing that gets me every time is others struggling with health issues. I have many people in my life struggling with their health demons.

A place that gets me is Hollywood. This year, we've seen many celebrities diagnosed with or pass away from their health issues. One celebrity's journey in particular really hit me emotionally.

Christina Applegate's health issues: her MS diagnosis hit home

This year Christina Applegate shared with the world her secret. She is struggling with a late diagnosis of MS. It hit her badly, and it hit her hard. I’ve watched this person on TV and in movies for as long as I can remember. Hearing her story and knowing MS's massive similarities with NMO made her situation that much harder for me to bear. It's not like I know her personally or know her entire situation - but I feel so much for her.

A true fighter

As an MS fighter, she really showed her strength. She had the option to finish filming her final project, "Dead to Me," on Netflix as a shorter season but declined. She pushed through the pain and finished it all. To me, that is what a fighter does. Fighters push themselves and don’t let their health get in the way. She's honestly such a talented and strong woman who wouldn’t let MS get the best of her.

Spoiler alert!

So before I get into this next part, I warn that this could spoil the show “Dead To Me” on Netflix.

This is a show that really had nothing to do with her health or anything truly upsetting. But then .the final season started. I cried every episode.

I let all the feels flow

I cried because I felt so much for her in real life. I could tell that the scenes were shot in specific ways to help her. Since her diagnosis, she has walked with a cane. Most of her shots were either her sitting down or from the waist up. It's great that they worked with her to make it easier.

But then came the real gut punch of the season.

The feeling of a life-changing diagnosis

This final season dealt with a chapter getting a very late diagnosis of cervical cancer. The journey this chapter goes on hits so close to home. Not because I know someone with it but how they dealt with it. In my opinion, this actress blew it away and pulled on every heartstring I had.

I was transported to my past

At one point, I looked at my roommate as we watched and said, “This is almost a word-for-word conversation I had eight years ago.” It felt like a blast from the past, and I was not emotionally prepared for any of it.

Hollywood's portrayal of health issues

Hollywood has always gone for showing the dramatic effects of cancer or showcasing a life-threatening situation in TV and movies. Some are just really bad, and some are truly heartbreaking.

None have ever hit me as hard as this one did. Whoever wrote this scene in "Dead to Me" deserves so much credit. I would not be surprised if they had a loved one in their life battling for their health.

Overall, watching this scene was an experience I will never forget. It’s been over a week, and the show can’t get out of my head. If you are into dark humor shows, give it a try. But be warned that the final season is rough. It was great - but rough.

Allowing myself to fully feel

It really has been over a year since I cried that hard, and my eyes hated me for it. Would I ever watch it again? Maybe. It truly pushed my emotions to the max and was a struggle to finish (but not because it was bad). It brought up a lot of emotions that I hadn’t felt in so long. The show did what it needed to do, and I believe it did it beautifully.

It may not have been about NMO, but about a woman fighting MS and not letting it control her and a woman acting in ways that truly made you believe she was just like us, fighting NMO.

We are all in this together.