Judge Ronald Gould on his MS: "Just take life a step at a time"
At 79, Ronald Gould, a federal judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle, shoulders a full caseload despite living with progressive multiple sclerosis – a condition he faces with grit and a healthy dose of humor.
"My life is just an ordinary life where I've been given responsibility, and I do my best to live up to it," said Judge Ronald Gould.
"My MS can still throw me an unexpected curveball," he said. "But you know, just take life a step at a time." Even, he acknowledged, if he can't actually make a step. "I guess for me, it would be a roll of the wheel at a time!"
Gould has been exceeding expectations all his life: Magna cum laude at law school; Supreme Court clerk; and president of the Washington State Bar Association. But it was during his time as a lawyer in private practice that he first noticed something was wrong.
At one point he tried to hide his diagnosis from others: "I remember walking down the street with one of my law partners. I think he suspected something. So, he kept walking faster, and faster, and I couldn't keep up."
The secret was out when he started walking with a cane. Gould soon graduated to a wheelchair, and continued his work at the firm, until he received an unexpected call: