Selma Blair isn’t letting multiple sclerosis (MS) keep her from enjoying her best life with her 7-year-old son Arthur.

In a sit-down interview with People, the actress opens up about her journey as she faces MS and how Arthur gets her through. Blair says about her son “he’s had to endure a lot; he’s seen a lot,” but has continued to shower her with love and support.

“He says, ‘Mommy’s not sick. Mommy’s brave.'” Blair recalls, before sharing that Arthur loves when she visits him at school.

“He said, ‘I love when you come to school because you make the kids laugh and you answer all their questions,'” she says, adding that she doesn’t mind being open with Arthur’s friends about her condition as she “walks and talks funny.”

“I explain what’s happening and that my voice doesn’t hurt, and we have really decent exchanges,” she continued. “I had no idea Arthur was proud of that. I thought ‘I’m probably an embarrassment,’ but to know I’m not was one of my proudest moments.”

Living with MS has been difficult for Blair, and it limits what she can and can’t do. But the actress says she’s found ways to adapt with her son as they bond over playing games.

“We play dodgeball, but I don’t dodge because that could be so dangerous,” she says, referring to her unsteady reflexes. “Maybe in the future for sure, but I don’t move side to side perfectly, and so I get to just hit him and then he throws it back to me, really chivalrously. And then I get to hit him again, and he thinks it’s amazing. It’s fun and it feels good to him. To me too.”

“This is it. The only life we get,” she says. “My disease isn’t a tragedy, but I tell myself, ‘You’re going to live in a way that would be an example for yourself and your son.'”