Liz and I are lifelong friends, having started school together aged four and both leaving at eighteen. She’s someone who’s always got up horribly early, always find something useful to do with an idle moment, and she works hard, enjoying a busy, regular, happy family life.

Two years ago, suddenly, out of nowhere it seemed, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. What started as an innocuous eye irritation (which, at the time, she thought might have been a bit of sand after a day at the beach with her husband and young boys) progressed over a few short weeks into a referral to a neurologist, a deterioration of the sight in her eye, numbness and tingling in her feet legs and hips, emergency hospital admissions, worry, panic, tests upon tests, the terror of paralysis, and before she had time to think about it, her shock diagnosis.

As for so many people diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, there was no run-up or gentle introduction to this for her, her husband and their sons as she continued to experience more severe and terrifying symptoms, and, on occasions, suffering more than one relapse on top of the other. She won’t say it herself, but I will: this all seems outrageously unfair.

Quite how she manages to keep her wicked sense of humour I do not know (and at times I’m sure she certainly doesn’t), especially as, to add insult, on account of the treatments she is receiving she has now had to give up alcohol. Sharp intake of breath now for anyone who hasn’t already while reading this.

Feeling completely helpless and frustrated to see Liz and her family go through all of this, yet desperately wanting to do something useful, I am joining in with everyone else supporting the MS Society to try to make more people aware of what this condition does to peoples’ lives, with the aim of raising some money to go towards something helpful. I’m no athlete; a cautious weekend jogger at best, but The Royal Parks Half Marathon is something I’ve thought of doing for a number of years (for one, it's flat!), and this has now given me the push to get up and do it this time.

Why a target of £1,765.00?

Liz tells me that the access to the MS Nurse support team has been a stand-out source of enormous support to her.

£1,765.00 could pay for a newly-appointed MS specialist nurse to receive further training in MS support care. In the knowledge that to have a nurse at your side makes such a difference, my target is to raise enough money to enable another MS nurse to receive the vital training to become part of the support team and to provide this comfort to someone when they need it the most.

Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this, and I will be very grateful for any donation.

For anyone interested in learning more about MS and how it can affect someone's life, Liz documented her experience in a blog she wrote a few months after her diagnosis, which she is happy for me to share here:

https://www.spabreaks.com/blog/living-with-multiple-sclerosis

Thank you again xx