Throughout my life I’ve hated the - ‘There’s always a blessing in these situations, you just have to seek it out’ - trite comments!
Your boyfriend fancies someone younger, fitter, funnier - and much more beautiful… Yeah - I can find a blessing in that… real Joy!
I’m sure with thought I can feel really good about myself - happier and more able to go confidently forward...
It’s SO annoying!
With this in mind, I braced myself for the same sort of stuff coming through when I had my MS diagnosis. I envisaged some sagely nodding heads - well-meaning of course, but really difficult to cope with when all you see ahead is ‘what's going to happen to me’?
One thing I hated was the unknown. I’m a coper. A survivor - a planner. A Tiger Mother who’s going to stop at nothing to see those I love come first. How could I afford to be vulnerable? The thoughts that raced around my head brought me down - and the chance of finding any blessing in my situation seemed highly unlikely.
Until...
One of the ‘blessings’ here I suppose is that having Binky gave me an identity - access to the outside world denied to many. A few days after my diagnosis was announced by The Daily Mail - I was inundated with messages of support.
One of those messages came from the MS Society. I had never needed to even think about them. MS had never touched my life. I opened the email and was immediately brought to tears by the warmth of the words within. Could it just be me they were understanding... talking to? Was it just me that found such comfort in such a terrifying situation? Either way, it felt like a blessing.
To cut a long story short, within a few weeks I had been invited to and attended my very first meeting. I wanted to discover just how close they were to finding a cure - I’m sure a very reasonable first response. Let's cut to the chase here… bottom line it hey!
I know this might sound trite, but after talking to them all I came home so buzzed up and excited, that the ‘cure’ thing had almost taken a back seat. I was so immersed in the excitement of the campaigns - the buzz around the people working there - they felt like family. I felt that I had been invited into an exclusive club - and it felt like ‘a blessing’.
I was then invited to visit The MS Society Tissue Bank. That experience was incredible. I discovered The UK MS Register, which combines clinical data with personal data from people living with MS to build a clearer picture of how MS affects people in the UK.
The MS Society is at the forefront of funding MS research in the UK. They are incredible. Their work, their team of scientists - doctors - professors are SO dedicated, it's really moving and very life-affirming.
If this has touched you in any way then do please check out their website -mssociety.org.uk - and find out the news and the amazing things in the pipeline
So to those who said ‘find the blessing’ - which initially seemed ludicrous - These People - Their Work - Their commitment...
The MS Society - I salute you!
