
“I do everything people say you shouldn’t do.”
I work in IT – I'm a support engineer. I just fix any application or computer system. I repair it, rebuild it.
I was 20 when I was diagnosed with MS. That's when I had a really bad relapse where I couldn't walk for, like, eight months. But I'm a practical person, and I like to deal with things as they come. So when it came along I just said, "okay, what can I do to improve myself and help myself?"
I thought about ways of overcoming it in terms of “okay, I need to do more exercise, I need to eat this or I need to do other things in order to help myself."
Being in bed for eight months after the relapse was a huge thing. Trying to get around the house, grabbing onto walls to move around, it was a huge weight on me.
I always tell myself: "Put your mind to it, you'll do it." And I hope to build my career and not let the MS hold me back.
Always keeping busy is a huge point for me. That's why I'm never at home because at home I'm not keeping busy. Outside I'm always doing something.
My life hasn't really changed much because I still do everything I used to do. I still go out, I still go to museums, I still go to galleries, I still go out clubbing, I still go out to bars. I still do everything that most people say you shouldn't be doing. And I still do it because I don't see MS as a restriction. I don't want it to be, “because I've got MS I can't do this.”
Never let yourself be held back by anything. A shock in your leg, or a shock in your hand, the twitch in your eye, or a twitch in your mouth or your face going droopy. Just accept it and move on. There’s so much More to uS – as in: this happened to me and I carried on.