The fall sitting of the Nova Scotia Legislature begins today and a familiar face is returning to the House of Assembly.
Chester-St. Margaret’s MLA Denise Peterson-Rafuse is back after stepping away for six months due to health concerns.
A Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis earlier this year has meant huge changes for Peterson-Rafuse, both professionally and personally.
“Life is full of challenges and if I decided to be fearful of coming back and just stay at home I’d never know if I could do it or not,” she says, “and I believe that I can.”
She’s still been doing some work at home but says balancing her health and her duties hasn’t been easy.
“What’s quite scary is when your legs turn to jelly and they don’t want to move and when you do get up you feel like they’re going to go out from underneath you. So, it has been challenging.”
Despite that Peterson-Rafuse is excited to be returning and says she doesn’t plan to let MS slow her down.
Her medical team will still be monitoring her condition to make sure she doesn’t push it too far.
Peterson-Rafuse says she still has a lot she’d like to accomplish.
When asked about the next provincial election, she says she has every intention of running again.
