A CT couple shares same first name and same life-altering disease. Humor helps ‘keep your sanity’

Hartford Courant – Tuesday, March 10, 2026
By Pamela McLoughlin

A longtime couple who coincidentally both have a life-altering disease consider themselves “lucky” to have each other.

They are able to help each other because the types of multiple sclerosis they have allow them to complement one another.

Kimberly Ward, 56, has primary progressive multiple sclerosis, which affects her mobility and her partner, Kimberly Perssonatti, 49, has relapsing remitting MS that affects her cognitively regarding recall and comes with visual issues, vertigo and temperature regulation.

Because they have different types of MS the woman said they are able to maximize helping one another get by.

Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis is the most “common way that multiple sclerosis begins — an estimated 85% of people diagnosed with MS have this type. MS causes flare-ups (relapses or attacks) of new or old symptoms. Periods of remission follow (when symptoms stabilize or go away),” according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Further, regarding primary progressive multiple sclerosis, “in some cases, MS symptoms may start off slowly and gradually worsen over time from the very beginning, without any periods of clear relapses or remission,” according to the Cleveland Clinic. The clinic estimates about 1 million people in the United States have MS.

The Meriden women say their MS differences “complement” each other.

Ward helps her love with brain fog by filling in the gaps and fixing her word salads and Perssonatti helps Ward to get around as her caretaker, the couple said. Ward’s MS involves her neck, spine, walking, balance and hand spasms.

Both are treated at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare with physical therapy and attend a monthly support group there that’s open to all in the community.

Gaylord recently went through the highly rigorous vetting process to be recognized by the National MS Society as Connecticut’s only “Rehabilitation Partner in MS Care,” a hospital official said.

Kimberly Fredsall, Ward’s physical therapist, said the condition presents so differently in individuals that “if you know someone with MS, you know someone with MS,” she said.

March is MS Awareness Month, which is a great time to, Gaylord officials said, to remind people that if they have questionable symptoms such as tripping or visual issues they shouldn’t just “chalk it up to aging.”

Perssonatti had MS for about a year before the two met at Starbuck’s in Bristol 16 years ago. Kim Ward got her diagnosis more recently in 2022 after a nocturnal seizure.

The couple agrees they use “humor” to get through it and that’s “how you keep your sanity.” Ward said.

Kim Ward’s diagnosis changed their lives, she said.

She has a shower chair, bed rails, walker, wheelchair and other such devices to get around. There’s a lot to consider before planning an activity of their home, the women said.

Both of the women are on infusions that are designed to prevent relapse and effective 80 percent of the time, they said.

For Perssonatti, the disease is more about fatigue, brain fog, word salad, and clumsiness.

“I help her when she loses her train if thought,” Ward said. “She’s easily distracted.” Perssonatti wears T-shirts in winter because of the heat intolerance and Ward respects that by piling on blankets and other covers.

Ward said MS doesn’t generally kill people, but it weakens the immune system, setting sufferers up for a host of other illnesses.

In MS, “the immune system attacks the protective sheath that covers nerve fibers, known as myelin. This interrupts communication between the brain and the rest of the body. Eventually, the disease can cause permanent damage of the nerve fibers,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

Perssonatti said when they go on an outing, “We have to be vigilant about the environment the equipment. We don’t get out a lot.”

Perssonatti said Ward went into a depression over her diagnosis in 2022 and Perssonatti told her, “You have a year wallow in pity and cry.” She met the deadline.

“I think it helps exponentially, when newly diagnosed, to talking to someone who grounds you,” Perssonatti said. “Having a disease like this is isolating. People don’t see it, understand it,”

Ward said she listened to Perssonatti talk about her challenges from the disease.

Physical therapist Fredsall, and another official from Gaylord, said multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system: the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves, that disrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and the rest of body.

People with MS can see their experience change from day to day, and year to year, Gaylord experts say. Symptoms vary, but can include: fatigue, mobility issues, memory issues, numbness, mood changes, tingling, pain, vision impairments, the experts said. MS also can affect different areas of the body and the symptoms depend on where inflammation and damage are occurring at any specific time.

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