Tuesday, April 27, 2010

MS Awareness Week 26th Apr-2ndMay 2010

Boo! This is me- ‘tis I! I look pretty much OK at the age of 55, wouldn’t you say? A bit wrinkled maybe, yet I live with a condition called Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (or MS, to Dai public sic.) and have lived with it since the age of 23. I have as sunny a disposition as this photo, so shan’t mention anything horrible ......besides no one wants to read doom and gloom, now do they?

I’m a lover of life and live it as fully as I can. I even took this photo myself because you can do things like that given the right equipment. Oh and the shades? Prescription sunglasses for long-sighteness, that's all.....well Ok, I can barely see out of one eye but hah! I miss naaathink!

MS is the most common disabling neurological disorder affecting young adults and we estimate that 100,000 people in the UK have MS.Please show your support by raising awareness that it is not a death sentence but a life sentence-and after all, Life is for LIVING, ond yfe, Dai? ;0)

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

I didn't realise you had suffered that long - I must re-read your book now that I know you. Lovely photo of you.

Eiona said...

Thanks Ann- yes, but was pushed from pillar to post and not diagnosed until the age of 36, though I gave up full time work at the age of 29. The condition was at its most aggressive in my early thirties(and this is why it's known as a young person's 'disease')to the extent that I was often bed bound. I am one of the extremely fortunate ones whose lives haven't been totally destroyed by it-unlike many.

I've now entered the realms of what scientists call 'no futher inflammatory activity' which damages the a 'myelin sheath'(which protects the nerves just as the insulation around an electric cable does with wires). I'm now in the realms of what they call brain atrophy, which happens as we all age anyway-also optic nerve atrophy affecting the one eye which is getting blurrier and blurrier with little colour vision left. Doesn't stop me photoing though ;-)