About MS

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting young adults. Around 85,000 people in the UK have MS.

MS is the result of damage to myelin - a protective sheath surrounding nerve fibres of the central nervous system. When myelin is damaged, this interferes with messages between the brain and other parts of the body.

For some people, MS is characterised by periods of relapse and remission while for others it has a progressive pattern. For everyone, it makes life unpredictable. For more information, visit the MS Society website.

MS and me

I was diagnosed with MS in January 2005. As I wasn’t with my family at Christmas I could hide the truth from them of how ill I was but it was painfully obvious to me and my friends that something was seriously wrong.

Multiple Sclerosis was not the diagnosis I feared, but preferable to the brain tumour I had expected! I had no idea what MS was, but I quickly checked that it wouldn’t kill me, and began to deal with it, my friends by my side. MS may not be terminal, but it’s no walk in the park either. MS is an awkward customer; embarrassing, unpredictable, depressing, painful, disabling and tiring, it eats away at my confidence and so much more that I had taken for granted. My body is no longer under my control; it has turned against me and is attacking itself. At times it shuts itself down completely so that dragging myself up the stairs to get to bed is enough to wipe me out for 12 hours.

While research is being carried out, the cure, like the cause, is still a mystery. A mystery that I would love to be solved. Please help us to raise money so that further research can be carried out to help not just me (well mainly me!) but also the rest of the 85,000 people in the UK who also suffer at the hands of Multiple Sclerosis.

Thank you,

Sophie