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When people are diagnosed with an illness or have mobility problems, they face a lot of firsts. The first time trying anything is rarely going to be easy and by the time the day comes around, the worry can be blown out of all proportion.

My name is Rebecca Doolin, and I am a 27-year-old primary school teacher from Mullingar in County Westmeath, and this year I am taking part in The May 50k, twice! Where I plan on running 100k for the month of May for MS Ireland!

I am running in memory of my Grandad, Rob, who was my best friend and my inspiration. He is the reason why I love the Irish language and is one of the reasons why I’m an Irish teacher today.

I like to think of myself as a ‘Neurologist’s Nightmare’ – a nurse by trade, with an interest in neurology and a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis to boot. I can nearly sense the dread before I open the clinic door. I come armed with questions – “But why?”, “But why not” and  with new research articles, new treatment guidelines that I want to share and discuss. Education is empowerment – the more we know the more confident we can be in our disease management and in our own health care decisions.

I presume you are fed up hearing about the now, not so novel coronavirus. In fact, I am willing to bet that most of us stopped being cognitively inclined to remember which variant is currently travelling around the world at free will. 'Life with COVID-19' as the government now wants us to call the pandemic, has been a trial of mental and emotional gymnastics since the day Ireland was officially added to the global list of coronavirus-targets.

And 'life with' is simply exhausting.

This year's Mother’s Day is a tough one for me. I lost my beautiful Mam on New Year’s morning after a brief illness. The first of everything is always the hardest. My dad died suddenly last year too, both parents aged 60. It's tough but I want to spend this Mother’s Day remembering all the precious years I had with my mam. 

My name is Dave Matthews and for 21 years I have had the dubious privilege of living with M.S.

I was born and raised in the West Riding of Yorkshire, a huge area including 5 or 6 significant cities, dozens of mill/market towns and thousands upon thousands of acres of open moorland, bog, rivers, hills and dales. As a boy along with my brothers, I used to take advantage of all this space, going camping and hiking for miles around. I guess that this is where my interest in wildlife, nurtured by my Aunt who had always lived in the country, came from

“I have MS, but MS hasn't got me” was the catchphrase bandied about by the MS Community circa the year 2000. Have you got MS or has MS got you? 

When I was diagnosed, I fell into the latter camp. I over-identified with having MS. In my own head, I was this tragic creature diagnosed in her prime. Instead of being a person who just happened to have a condition, illness, disease or whatever you want to call it, I became this vulnerable, scared, delicate being. I became an MS sufferer.

Online provides opportunity to expand physiotherapy for people with MS and other conditions.

The lives of thousands of people living with neurological conditions can be significantly improved through the development of a new ‘online’ national physiotherapy service to promote their well-being and prevent disability.

MS Ireland (Multiple Sclerosis) is seeking to engage with the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and HSE to capitalise on opportunities which proved highly effective during COVID-19.

Grief is the one thing in life we are all guaranteed to experience at some stage of life. When you lose a loved one, a pet or experience any loss you will experience grief. And for those of us who live with a chronic illness/disability, we face grief on a regular basis.

Orna Brown was diagnosed with MS a little over a year ago, during the pandemic. After visiting our website and social media channels, Orna discovered our online services and signed up to the Move Smart programme . Below she outlines her experience being diagnosed, and how the Move Smart programme has helped her.