The diagnosis didn’t really feel as life changing as I expected it to. It was a relief. Don’t get me wrong, I knew that I was in for a tough time over the coming months, but that confirmation made me feel better, not worse.
I started this blog soon after my diagnosis, and just writing it, regardless of anybody actually reading it, was more therapeutic than I could ever have imagined. Getting my story down gave me a sense of clarity in my mind, beyond anything I could have imagined.
If there’s one thing I knew that I wanted more than anything though, it was for my diagnosis to not be in vain. I wanted good to come from it.
I’d been in touch with Pete since I’d arrived back from holiday. Pete is someone that I’ve followed for some time on Twitter, as a fellow Wigan Warriors fan. We had met on one occasion, just a matter of months before at the Post Office. I didn’t make the connection that it was him. He held the door open for me and as I passed through I noticed that he was wearing his work uniform, which was incidentally for a rival company to the one that I work for so he stuck in my mind. Later that night I received a tweet. The awkward “was that you, or wasn’t it?” tweet that I’d sent myself on a couple of occasions!
So why was I in touch with him?
Well, he is the chairman of Wigan MS Therapy Centre. His wife Karen, also has MS. I knew about the centre as he talks about it regularly on his social media. He works seemingly tirelessly to raise funds for the charity. A number of people had mentioned his wife Karen to me since getting diagnosed – plenty of people in the rugby community know them, and everyone has such amazing, positive words to say about them both, but Karen in particular. I could see what people mean – they always look like they’re having a whale of a time in their Facebook posts!
How inspirational is that?
A few weeks back, Pete had shared a post asking for volunteers to help out with some bucket collecting for the Centre on the Saturday before Mother’s Day at the Big Tesco near us (is it just me that refers to them as ‘little’ and ‘big’ Tesco?!) As Dave was having a nerd out at Comic Con in Liverpool, I was at a loose end and volunteered myself for a couple of hours.
I’m so so glad that I did. Finally meeting Pete and Karen, and other people in my shoes was a breath of fresh air. Being around people that “get it” is something I completely under estimated.
I’ve also finally gotten around to visiting the Centre (which incidentally Dave’s brother, Mike, has recently done some work on the roof of). It’s awesome! There’s an accessible gym for those who can’t workout with ease at a regular gym, as well as a therapy room. You can get a great variety of treatments such as Swedish, Indian Head and Hot Stone Massages, Aromatherapy, Crystal Therapy, Reflexology, Reiki Energy Therapy and Hopi Ear Candles. I’ll tell you now – I’ll definitely be getting involved in this!
Most importantly, during it’s opening times, there’s always a brew and a friendly face around for a chinwag! I can definitely see me spending more time here when I’m off work in the future 🙂
MS Understood 