Hello all,
It is with great sadness, that our youngest daughter, Tiasha, has been diagnosed with MS. There is a 2-5% chance that a child of an MS sufferer should also contract the disease, so this is extremely unlucky for her, at only 19 years old. Having said that, Tiasha has been diagnosed extremely early with ‘relapsing remitting’ MS and is under the best care possible.
It started a few months ago when Tiasha was diagnosed with Optic Neuritis, a relatively common eye condition that clouds the vision in one eye temporarily. From the opticians to the eye clinic and then the neurologist, an MRI followed and then a lumbar puncture to confirm the diagnosis. We are now at the stage where medication is being discussed. This drives me even more to support East Surrey Hospital in becoming a Hub for patients with MS, as well as supporting centres like the Ryan MS Centre. This is not just affecting middle aged or older generations but people as young as my daughter who need emotional and physical support in order to live their lives to the fullest, with knowledge, positivity and motivation. So please, make Sportin MS your charity – give it a voice and let’s take MS to a more public level. Once Tiasha decides on treatment options and Dr Apostu, along with Nicola the new MS nurse at East Surrey, I will update this blog each month with her journey, along with my own, so that others can benefit from her experiences. I cannot thank the staff enough for providing what I feel is above and beyond medical care. However, the support my daughter has received has been pushed by me and my already extensive knowledge and relationship with the department. We, at Sportin MS want this care to be universal across the country.
On an extremely exciting note, as most of you know, Sportin MS supporters, Old Reigatian Rugby Club will be hosting our first major event, the “Masked Ball” (obviously in keeping with current times) in October. All details will follow once I have had further meetings – I am very excited. I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine, when it appears and I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to have as much joy as possible in your daily lives, happy memories are the ones worth keeping, so make them!
Lots of love, Antoinette