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Living with MS: My story

Two man smile warmly to the camera.

Felix, who lives with relapsing MS and Craig, who lives with primary progressive MS, talk about the impact of the disease on their daily lives.

Felix

Felix is a 31-year-old photographer and football fan. He experienced his first symptom of MS in 2005, and was diagnosed with relapsing MS in 2009.

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I stopped reading books in about 2007, because when I read a book I just can’t remember at the end of one page, what was happening at the beginning of the page.

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The first symptoms I experienced were problems with balance and keeping my hands steady. I once had a relapse affecting my feet and it felt like my feet weren’t belonging to me. It was really strange and frustrating.

A man throws a ball in a gym, showcasing athleticism and focus in a spacious indoor sports environment.

I go to the fitness studio one-to-two times a week. In the fitness studio my personal trainer is doing more training for balance with me and I go to the fitness studio with my wife and it’s a big difference seeing my wife doing balance training [compared] to me as she has much more balance than me.

Craig

Craig is a professional pianist. He experienced his first symptom of MS in his 30s, and was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in his mid-40s.

[Potrait] Roche's patient

I suppose from my mid 30’s I really started to feel that something wasn’t quite right. I would run and then I couldn’t stop or I had trouble running, my left leg started dragging and so I thought this was wrong.

A man playing with a piano.

Worryingly for me being a piano player, I was getting numbness in my fingers, particularly in my tips of fingers, and I was missing things on the piano and I couldn’t feel the keyboard quite so well.

A man and a woman stand together in a modern kitchen, engaged in conversation while preparing a meal.

Independence for me now is really the ability to be able to get to work, to be able to make myself a cup of tea and breakfast. I try and get the maximum out of the quality of life that I can with what I’m presented with health wise.

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