I'm running the 2026 Royal Parks Half Marathon to raise money for the MS Society. This is why.

In November 2025, my wife Cati suddenly began losing feeling down her left side. Over a weekend it spread — her torso, her leg, her arm and was struggling to use her hand. By Monday she had been admitted to hospital, and by Tuesday we were waiting for the results of her MRI.

The unknown was the hardest part. There were a series of scans and physical tests for motor control. A CT scan had already shown a mass on her brain. A stroke seemed unlikely at her age; a brain tumour felt unbearably possible. We desperately hoped it was a trapped nerve, something temporary, fixable.

Toward the end of Tuesday, a consultant walked us through the MRI. There were three or four inflammations on Cati's brain and spine. It was Multiple Sclerosis — her immune system attacking her own nerve cells.

We were deeply relieved it wasn't cancer, and there was no immediate threat to her life. But it was still a heavy blow. MS is a permanent condition, and the possibility of future disability wasn't something we could get off our minds.

The months that followed were hard. Cati's symptoms ebbed and flowed as she came off steroids and was put back on them. She felt like a stranger in her own body — every change in sensation raising the question: Am I about to lost function here as well? Will I be able to keep working? What will our life look like? Things reached their lowest point when she began losing feeling and control on both sides of her body and was back in hospital, struggling to use her hands, to walk upstairs, lying awake worrying about what a common cold might do to her. The emotional and physical turmoil weighed heavily on us both and we felt utterly powerless. We tried our best to be positive, focus on the knowable and find ways to distract ourselves. Without planning it, we ended up taking turns being the person to put on a brave face and console the other.

We are enormously grateful to our families, who took it in turns to be with us throughout, and to the friends we confided in. And we cannot say enough about the care Cati received — the nursing team at Coventry were exceptional, and when Cati was having panic attacks in hospital, they let me stay overnight with her. Everyone, from the radiographers, the porters, consultants, to the staff that made us cups of tea were wonderful. The NHS, in the most stressful moment of our lives, was everything you'd hope it would be.

By Christmas, the flare-up had calmed. In March, Cati began her treatment consisting of regular infusions to suppress her immune system from attacking her nerves. Since then, her symptoms have been much better, life has gradually started to feel more like itself again. These infusions slow the progression of the disease. There is currently no cure. Researchers are continuing to make vital breakthroughs, but there is still a long way to go to stop MS.

We're sharing this because we know others may be going through something similar — and if our experience offers anyone even a small amount of reassurance, we're glad.

Something we hadn't appreciated before all of this is just how much MS treatment has advanced. Cati's treatment has a reported efficacy of around 80%, and there are even research trials exploring ways to repair already-damaged nerve cells. There are still questions ahead of us, and we'd be lying if we said we never worry about the future. But time is on our side — the progress of the last thirty years gives us genuine hope about what the next thirty might bring. That hope is thanks in large part to organisations like the MS Society, which is why I'm asking for your support.

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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a condition that affects your brain and spinal cord. In MS, the coating that protects your nerves is damaged, causing a range of symptoms including blurred vision and problems with how we move, think and feel.

More than 150,000 people in the UK have MS. The MS Society is here to help everyone live well with MS and fund research to stop MS for good. Every year they reach thousands of people with help and support through their MS Helpline and local groups. They campaign on the issues that matter most to the MS community. And they invest in ground-breaking research to stop MS in its tracks.

Together, we are strong enough to stop MS.