MS Ireland
Informing, Supporting and Caring for the MS Community
Firstly, we would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who entered a photo for our 2019 calendar competition. Our judging panel found it incredibly hard to make the final decision as there seems to be a lot of talented photographers around the country!
Cover shot: Todor Tilev - Dolman
Pat McHenry – Dunluce Castle
Michael Smith – Luas Beresford Place
Oliver Gargan – As Time Goes By
John Brew – Dublin Clocks
Jennifer Grey – Footprints
Eamonn Lawless – Seafront Kiosk, Bray Co. Wicklow
James Mahon – In Golden Oats
Owen O’Donohoe – Blood Moon
Mark Gorman – Shandon Time
Colin Fitzpatrick – Deer in Phoenix Park
Alan Mahon – Rock Stars
Anne Francis- Nee – Umbrella
**Order our stunning 2019 calendar**
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For more information contact Sally Spearman: email calendars@ms-society.ie
Kiss Goodbye to MS on World MS Day Join us this World MS day (30th May) for our 9000 steps challenge to help support the 9000+ people living with Multiple Sclerosis throughout Ireland. It’s easy to join, wherever you live, whatever your fitness level, you can decide when and where you will complete your steps. You can choose to walk, run, dance, swim or even hop to complete your challenge. You can do it by yourself, with friends or family or get together a team with your work colleagues. Every step you take will represent your support for the 9,000 people living with MS in Ireland. Together we can take a step closer to providing more services and finding better treatments, and eventually a cure for MS. Help us make MS history! #KissGoodbyeToMS Get in touch Sign up online today or for more information email caitrionah@ms-society.ie
Christina updates us on her Mini Marathon training and how her MS can impact her training plans... I am really looking forward to this year’s Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon in June and being part of Team MS Ireland. I’ve been out running a few days a week, just small bits here and there to keep active as part of my training for the upcoming 10k Mini Marathon. Last year I really enjoyed the personal challenge of training but also I would love to be able to jog the whole 10k course, so a well-planned training schedule is vital! Training for the Mini Marathon and participating in any run for someone with a chronic illness can have its difficulties. As you may know, living with MS can be very unpredictable. You can experience many symptoms that can affect your daily life and interfere with training and physical activities. MS adds a certain level of unreliability in my life. My symptoms can flare and differ from day to day. A few weeks ago I ended up having a relapse, which resulted in a short stay in Beaumont Hospital to help me recover. Suddenly my well planned training schedule was on the back burner! Listening to My Body I can’t stress enough how important it is to listen to your body, rest when you need to and to look after your mental health. I felt so frustrated because my relapse left me feeling drained. I was angry that I was unable to go out training and I felt like I was letting myself down. After three days of steroid treatment in hospital, I took a well needed rest for a whole week and reorganised my training plan. I listened to my body and knew I needed to find a balance; a balance between looking after myself and still training for the 10k challenge. I’m happy to say, my plan is working. I went to the gym twice last week. On the first day I managed 1k on the treadmill and then I listened to my body and stopped. It may be only 1k but it is 1k more to reaching my 10k goal! I took a day’s rest and on my next training day I managed to jog 2k. After two rest days, I went back to the gym and was able to push myself a little bit further by completing a hard but rewarding 3k. This week I will aim to do 4k and I’ll take my rest once again. I am slowly building up the strength in my legs so I can do the Mini Marathon without doing myself any harm. I am listening to my body and I’m still training but in a way that suits my needs. I may be slower than I was last year but slow and steady wins the race You can join Team MS Ireland & Christina by signing up for the Women's Mini Marathon today!
My Invisible MS MS Ireland will join with people and other MS organisations around the world to mark World MS Day on the 30th May. The 2019 campaign will be called ‘My Invisible MS’ (#MyInvisibleMS) and the theme is Visibility. My Invisible MS will raise awareness of the invisible symptoms of MS and the unseen impact of MS on quality of life. The campaign will give a voice to everyone affected by MS to share their invisible MS symptoms and express what you want others to know and understand about MS, in order to challenge common misconceptions and help people understand how to provide the right support. What you can do to support the Campaign: Campaign toolkit Download posters, social media shareable, myth and truth infographics and more on the World MS Day website today: https://worldmsday.org/tools/ NEW: Poster maker tool The World MS Day poster maker is a great way of shining a spotlight on MS by creating personalised posters and graphics. Anyone can use this poster maker tool to create a range of invisible symptom posters as well as shareable graphics to tell the world about MS. You can share the personalised invisible symptom posters and ‘what I want you to know about MS’ graphics on social media, print them ahead of an event or download them to use in your campaign materials. To create your own poster, simply click on this link and follow the instructions below https://worldmsday.org/poster-maker-gallery/: Click ‘create your own poster’ Select a template from the five options Choose a language and symptom, type your name and country and upload a photo Click review your poster and when you’re happy with it, share on social media, download or print. Add your event to the global map Tell the world about your World MS Day plans by adding an event to the map. Including your event on the map is a fantastic way to engage with people affected by MS in your area as well as the global MS community, attracting more people to participate in your event. Once you’ve created an event, you’ll have a specific webpage for your event which you can share with your audiences. Click here to add an event: https://worldmsday.org/add-an-event/ Sign up to the World MS Day newsletter For more updates and information about this year’s World MS Day, make sure you sign up to the World MS Day newsletter: https://www.msif.org/get-involved/our-newsletters/
Last year I took on the challenge of the VHI Women’s Mini Marathon for Multiple Sclerosis Ireland and I can’t wait to take part again this year. I was diagnosed with MS in 2016, age 26. I went to bed one night, followed my normal bedtime routine and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The next day I woke up and I experienced my first MS attack; my whole life changed in an instant. I couldn’t control my body movements. I was paralyzed down the left side of my body and it wouldn’t move the way I wanted it to. It would even make strange movements without my permission. Long story short, I had lesions on the part of my brain that controls my voluntary body movements. This impacted my mobility and I was quickly diagnosed with MS. When you go from being healthy one day and waking up the next not being able to move your body properly, you really do re-evaluate everything. I have experienced what it’s like to lose something that I took for granted, like walking across the room or walking down the street; now I try to make sure I never take anything for granted again. I face challenges with my MS on a daily basis. Fatigue is a big symptom and it can get in the way of training and exercising. Even at the Mini Marathon you can face struggles, especially on a warm day. Last year I saw a women taking part in the Mini Marathon in full army gear. I told my friends that’s what MS is like for me! You feel like you have weights attached to your arms and legs, and I carry that around with me everywhere! Taking part in the Mini Marathon means a lot of different things to me. It makes me feel proud of myself and is a way for me to celebrate my ability to be lucky enough to jog it. I am in remission, so I will make the most of it and that’s why I love taking part. I am not wasting the opportunity because one day I may not be given that luxury. I focus on the here and now, and now I am doing well, so I will jog it and if I can’t jog it, I will walk it!! The VHI Women’s Mini Marathon can be tough and of course there are struggles, but I can’t even describe how rewarding, proud, emotional and happy you feel when you have completed the race. I cannot wait to do it again for MS Ireland this year, to represent all my fellow MSer’s and stand alongside all the other women ready to begin the race for a charity they hold close to their hearts. It really is a beautiful feeling. To join Christina and Team MS Ireland sign up today by visiting www.vhiwomensminimarathon.ie/ Get in touch You can contact MS Ireland by calling 01 678 1622; email fundraising@ms-society.ie or sign up online for you pack.
Save the date MS Ireland's National MS Conference Saturday, 21st September 2019 in the Radisson Hotel, Limerick. Stay tuned for updates!
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