Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read our page!

I'm Anna and I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in November 2016. A few months ago my husband, Ben, signed us and our children, Lily and Bruno, up to do this 10km walk through central London! He has already raised so much money for MS and I'm so grateful to him and my children for doing this. I then asked Clare, my dearest friend since we were the age of 5, if we could stay with her after the walk. She said yes and asked if her and her family could join us - 5 minutes later they were all signed up, that's Clare for you, the most loyal friend around. I am so grateful to her and her family, Nick, Olive and Flora for their support.

We are doing this walk, with the MS community, to raise awareness of the disease and also to raise money. The Octopus trial is the first of it's kind, a multi-arm (MAMS) design, for MS. MAMS trials make research 3 times faster and 375 people have been recruited so far. How your fundraising helps:

- £30 pays for the processing of 1 blood sample

- £50 is enough to operate a high powered microscope for 1 hour

- £100 could pay for half an hour of MRI use

As my neurologist said 'MS is the best brain disease to have in terms of research!'

MS is a very strange disease - it is so different for everyone. It is, however, incurable for all. It is a neurological disease that can affect mobility, brain function (memory, thinking), bladder, muscles (pain, tremors), vision, balance and emotional regulation (extreme emotions and depression) to name a few. For some the progress is slow and limited, but for others the progress of disability is unrelenting and horrendous. I am definitely in the lucky group. Initially, when I was diagnosed, I had a lot of 'relapses' including double vision, extreme pain and aches in my body for long periods and severe tinitus, all of which were cured with high doses of steroids or time.

Since then I have embraced therapy to put boundaries in place to work through my challenges and reduce stress (my greatest cause of ill health). Diet changes, increased sleep, exercise, immersing myself in the outdoors (after a wonderful move to the countryside) and generally trying to slow down have been of huge value and I truly believe, with a bit of luck, have thus far halted any progression since the early days. I also swear by glutathione which has alleviated so much pain. I am by NO means getting it all right but I'm on a good trajectory which I think is all we can try to do?! As I say, I am in the lucky group, but it is still hard. I have ongoing fatigue and shooting pains in my limbs (which are, thank goodness, so much better than they were). I have also lost trust in my brain which is being monitored but declining in function. This has caused me to lose confidence socially and has cost me a career in teaching (I am now doing other wonderful things for which I'm hugely grateful but I absolutely won't put myself forward in the way I used to).

Medication, in the form immunosuppressants, is often very strong and can have nasty side effects. For me, this meant 6 operations over a 3 year period. My immune system then crashed and I had to switch to a new drug which has thus far been extremely successful - no side effects and no progression of MS. Hopefully it will continue to work for a long time as I'm unlikely to be able to use the immune-suppresant category again. It is a balancing act which people are often unaware of.

Living with the fear of the future is also hard as 50% of those of us diagnosed with relapse remitting MS will go into the secondary progressive category after 10-15 years. This is when the disease evolves into relapse after relapse and there is no cure. I get scared about that prospect but I also know it is so important to stay positive. The relatively recent findings of epigenetics are very powerful and a huge motivator.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I hope it gives an insight into what’s it’s like for a lucky MS patient to live with the disease.If you can spare any money to support the fast moving research that is currently being undertaken I, and all MS patients out there, would be so grateful.

Many, many thanks,

Anna