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Back in 1991, I was a relatively fit 29-year-old PE teacher. One morning I woke up and rubbed my bleary eyes, strangely my vision still seemed blurred, particularly in my left eye. I wasn't initially concerned but when my eyesight remained unchanged for the rest of the day, I started to worry. 

Two days later I consulted my GP and he sent me to see a specialist, who diagnosed optic neuritis. This condition persisted through a number of months and although I took a lot of stick for wearing sunglasses indoors, it seemed to help slightly and I wasn't unduly worried. Then a colleague said that he'd heard optic neuritis was often the first symptom of multiple sclerosis. I had a few months of worry, before my parents volunteered to pay for me to have an MRI scan, as at the time, only BUPA could provide a scanner in the Midlands. After my scan the neurologist said that he was pleased to tell me that my nerve fibres showed no signs of the lesions associated with MS; I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Six months later I started to feel a tingling in my left hand, this tingling spread to my left arm, then my left foot, my left calf and eventually my whole left side. At this point I was really struggling to walk and was admitted to hospital for three weeks of intensive steroids. By the end of the three weeks, I was well enough to walk down to the hospital physiotherapy gymnasium and perform simple balancing, stair climbing and coordination tasks. After having missed a whole term of teaching I was eventually able to return to my PE job and for the next few years you would hardly know I was ill; although I did put on a lot of weight, due to not adapting my diet to suit the reduced amount of exercise I was able to do.

Over the next 5 years, my condition deteriorated only very slightly, although there were several exacerbations, triggered by other minor illnesses. Trouble with my wisdom teeth at one point rendered me unable to walk! Whenever I had had one of these episodes, my GP was able to bring it back under control using steroids. However, I felt powerless to do very much to help my condition. Though I had still not had a formal diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, it was obviously what I was suffering from. 

After research on the Internet, I persuaded my neurologist to prescribe me Beta Interferon, which is one of the three ABC drugs (Avonex, Beta Interferon and Copaxone) recommended to slow down relaxing and remitting MS. After seven years of taking beta interferon, during which time I had had no significant relapses, we decided that the drug had done its job, but that my MS had progressed from relapsing and remitting to secondary progressive MS.

The next five years saw me becoming more uncoordinated and weak, as I had to walk using elbow crutches. Eventually even that became too much for me and I had to rely on the wheelchair. Initially I only used the wheelchair for longer distances where I wasn't able to manage using my crutches; but now 23 years after my first symptoms, I use my wheelchair all the time and would only be able to manage a few steps using a Zimmer frame.

Although the wheelchair is the obvious thing people see about me, there are a number of other symptoms making everyday life more difficult, such as bladder and bowel trouble, slowness in the processing of visual stimuli and impaired memory function. I suffer from a great deal of pain in my limbs, particularly my legs which greatly impairs my sleep;although this is controlled quite well using prescription drugs (tramadol and pregabalin). I did have a six-month period of using nabilone (a cannabis-based drug), which after alarming initial side-effects reduced my pain significantly. I did take part in the three-year CUPID trial, another cannabis-based drug aimed at slowing secondary progressive MS, however this had no effect and the trial showed the drug to have no positive effects.

At Easter 2012 my illness had become sufficiently bad that I had to retire from teaching. Although I am still able to drive, using a specially adapted car with hand controls, I was acutely aware that if I was not to become totally reliant on others, I had to do everything I possibly could to slow the progression of this disease. Just before I had retired, I discovered the Leicester MS Therapy Centre, where I went for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy once a week.

Since retirement the centre has become a central part of my life, I still have weekly hyperbaric oxygen therapy, occasional massage but particularly physiotherapy. I find that using the specially adapted equipment in the physio room, allows me to exercise to my full capacity in a safe environment, using a program adapted to my needs by the centre's physiotherapist. The centre is a purely charitably funded organisation, which needs to raise upwards of £80,000 every year just to keep going. The members of the centre work tirelessly, to the limits of their capabilities, to keep the centre running and to raise funds.

I cannot claim to be a typical MS sufferer, as the only typical symptom of the disease is its unpredictability. However, I am certainly one of the many people who have come to rely hugely on the input, help, advice and friendship of the centre.