Search

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. 

The Fermoy Branch of MS Ireland Annual Walk. Fill in the form below to express your interest.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I was diagnosed in October of 2016. The diagnosis changed me, it made me less confident, less self-assured, more self-conscious and very worried for my future. I didn’t feel like myself any more. I had always been very independent, I didn’t want MS to rob me of that. I wanted to be able to take care of my children, I wanted to be able to provide for them. I wanted my life to just stay the same. I didn’t realise back then that things would have to change to accommodate this new addition to our lives

I’ve lived with MS for almost a decade now and I’ve encountered numerous other people living with MS, most of whom have gone on to become very good friends of mine. One of the first topics of conversation between friends with MS is the initial diagnosis of their condition.

The when/where/how of their journey with MS. These stories can vary greatly depending on the stage of life, the family circumstances, and the financial circumstances of the person around the time that they were diagnosed.

MS will push you to your limits and expose your vulnerabilities. Most of us have had those days when just getting out of bed is a chore, let alone mustering up the energy to exercise. After my anxiety became infinitely worse during the pandemic and the return to pre-Covid normality had become too people-y, my boyfriend convinced me to start running.