Hallmark Alum Opens Up About MS Diagnosis After 10-Year Milestone

A Hallmark star revealed her MS diagnosis recently.

Heavy A Hallmark star revealed her MS diagnosis recently.

Hallmark alum Lisa Durupt opened up on social media about her MS (multiple sclerosis) diagnosis. She revealed that she’s the “happiest girl in the world” because she’s been able to take a highly effective medication for 10 years.


‘Infusion Day!’ She Wrote in All Caps on Her Post

Durupt shared on Instagram that she left UBC hospital as “the happiest girl in the world” after receiving an Ocrevus infusion. She revealed that she’s been taking the medication for 10 years as part of a drug trial, and is enjoying a “healthy symptom free life.” Durupt added that she’s been living with MS for 25 years.

“Everything else is a silver lining baby,” she shared.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune disorder that affects the central nervous system, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. It occurs when the body attacks itself, destroying the myelin around nerve fibers. Some cases can be very mild with few symptoms, while others may experience extensive disabilities as a result.

The medication Durupt is taking, Ocrevus, is one of the newer treatments for MS, according to MS Trust. It’s taken as an IV every six months. The medication is a monoclonal antibody that targets a marker on the surface of B cells, believed to be involved in attacks on the immune system.

In a 2016 interview with TV Goodness, Durupt talked more about her MS diagnosis. She said she was diagnosed as a teen after a flare at 16 temporarily impaired her motor skills for a few weeks. She said her doctor told her it was either MS or cancer, and MS would be the better of the two.

“He was very clear that I wanted it to be MS because there will be a cure in my lifetime,” she recalled. “He was very positive about it. My mom said, ‘you can own it or let it own you.’ She never let me feel sorry for myself.”

Her flare at 16 was so bad that for a time, she couldn’t even brush her own hair.

She told Vancouver is Awesome that after losing her fine motor skills, she was able to regain them and be offered a hockey scholarship two years later.

TV Goodness reported that she had a flare at 18 that made her more sensitive to heat, and then another flare at 24 when she was dealing with a breakup. Today, she controls her MS with a healthy lifestyle combined with Ocrevus.

“I have been so fortunate,” she told TV Goodness. ” I try to eat healthy, get my sleep. I’m really good about working out and keeping myself healthy. For me, that’s made all the world of difference, and being positive…not stressing.”

She added that she’s also lucky to live in a place where the healthcare system takes care of her.

Durupt told Vancouver Is Awesome: “I know what it’s like to not be able to dress yourself or feed yourself and all that stuff, so when you do have your health, I think the rest, you can’t stress about anything. I’ve been very lucky.”

Durupt is known for playing Hannah Swensen’s sister, Andrea, in “Murder She Baked.” Her character didn’t return when the series was recently brough tback. Alison Sweeney (Hannah Swensen) told TV Goodness that she hopes Durupt can return for a future installment when they are able to “use her to her full advantage.”

Durupt has been busy. She starred in “How to Murder Your Husband” in 2023, along with “Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas” on Hallmark in 2021, 13 episodes of “Heartland,” “To All the Boys: Always and Forever,” and more.

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