A Dundrum woman is supporting a new national charity campaign to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis (MS). Bronagh Patterson lives with relapsing remitting MS. Bronagh, who received her diagnosis when she was just 30 years old, while preparing for her wedding, shares her experience of coming to terms with her diagnosis and the importance of positive conversations around MS.
MS Awareness Week takes place from the 28th of April to the 4th of May. The new campaign is called ‘MS Conversations’. Spearheaded by a collaboration of the UK’s MS charities — MS Society, MS Trust, MS Together, MS-UK, the Neuro Therapy Network, Shift.ms, Overcoming MS, and Talks with MS — it aims to encourage people to start conversations about their multiple sclerosis.
More than 5,300 people in Northern Ireland, and more than 150,000 people in the whole of the UK, live with MS. It’s a condition that affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord and impacts how people move, think and feel. Symptoms are different for everyone and are often invisible. But one thing everyone with MS has in common is that they’ll all have conversations about their condition, whether they’re explaining it to family members or friends, asking an employer or medical professional for support, or opening up to a new partner. Those conversations won’t always be easy.
Bronagh believes having conversations about MS creates an environment that is positive and supportive, where people like her can get advice, learn new skills and share coping mechanisms. Bronagh said her MS diagnosis came as a complete shock.
“Out of the blue in June 2023 my right eye began to react like it would to a flare up of hay fever,” she said. “An emergency appointment with my optician resulted in a referral to ophthalmology.”
Read the full story in the current issue of the Mourne Observer.
