My Story

Me and London Marathon have unfinished business. It was my first road marathon, back in 2017. I trained as well as I could. I remember one day waking up with pins and needles in both feet. I had 16 miles to run that day but thought I'd get out there and see how it went. It was strange not being able to feel the ground properly, and I had a couple of stabby pains where I thought I had stepped on something sharp, but apart from that it went well. Over the next few days the pins and needles began to creep up towards my knees but then thankfully started to subside. My GP referred me to the hospital, and eventually an appointment came through for June.

Then a couple of days before race day I woke up with double vision. I could see clearly to about arm's length, then everything after that split in two. I didn't want to waste all that training, so I decided to give the race a go anyway. As long as I could see the back of the person in front of me, I should be fine! 

I forgot to consider that I'd had my name put on my race vest, and that famous London crowd support meant I had no idea if I knew the people calling my name or not, as I couldn't see them! Not to mention not being able to see my beautiful adopted home town. But by the end of the race I was sure I could see a little further, and I finished in 4 hours 17 minutes. 

At the end of 2017 I was finally diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. What I had experienced were "relapses" where for some as yet unknown reason the immune system attacks the nerves in the brain, causing damage to the protective myelin coating on the nerves and interrupting signals to other parts of the body - in my case my eyes and legs. When the inflammation subsides function can come back either fully or partially. I'm lucky to have fully recovered from each of the five relapses I had before I was diagnosed. It does leave a scar which can be seen by an MRI scanner - the "sclerosis" part in the name.

Shortly after my diagnosis I started taking disease modifying drugs, and I haven't had any relapses or changes to my annual MRI scans since. I took advantage of the support offered by my hospital including a course delivered in conjunction with the MS Society - Living Well With MS. The MS Society also funded one of the MRI scanners I have been in. They also fund research, so important when there is so much we still do not know about MS. Every discovery brings us closer to a cure. Their advocacy work on behalf of people with MS is especially important in this election year where disabled people are either forgotten about or demonised.

At the end of last year I had an unexpected opportunity to run London Marathon again, so I laced my shoes up and started training. It was all going so well until a bout of food poisoning hit me, followed by injury to both knees. However after some rest and rehab I managed to get through that milestone of marathon training, the 20 mile long run, with tape on my knees and a smile on my face. Now I know I can make it to the start line.  It might be my last road marathon, so I decided to use the opportunity to fundraise for the MS Society.