I was working at the House of Commons when the tumbles began. On one particularly memorable occasion, I had gone to the canteen to get lunch and was walking across the room to a table, carrying a tray full of food.

I don’t recall exactly how it happened, but I fell over with that tray full of food
in the packed dining room, and loads of people were watching. What a racket
it made!

I remember feeling hotly embarrassed as I sat up and collected the tray , its contents and the rest of my things off the floor. I don’t remember who I was with. Or whether anybody got up to help me (they must have). I just remember the very handsome man who I had spotted around the place, was standing there - along with his friend - and saw it all.

The next time I remember taking a tumble was when I was visiting my mother's place in Yarm with my new boyfriend (the very man who witnessed my dining room catastrophe). She lived quite near an abandoned railway, which she used to enjoy walking along for exercise. On the walk that day I was lagging behind and my mother (who was never the most patient of people) was getting extremely frustrated and telling me to hurry up. She was trying to lose weight and get fit and would march down that track at quite a pace. On that particular day, I found I just couldn't keep up.

After a year or two of fairly frequent stumbles and falls, I developed double vision whenever I looked up and to the right. Eventually I asked my GP what he thought it could be and he told me it could either be an Eye Migraine or Multiple Sclerosis. Eventually I was diagnosed with MS and, sixteen years later, I still feel like it’s only the beginning. I don’t know what the future holds, but I strive to make it a good one.

Since diagnosis, I have realised that the most difficult part is truly accepting that I have MS. And that MS limits what I can do and it’s here to stay. It affects my life in more ways than I care to admit, but I am determined not to let it define me. I received some transformational coaching and was able to see that I already possess all I needed to change my life for the better.

I shook off the feelings of worthlessness that my diagnosis brought and emerged from the darkness a stronger, happier person.

Or drop me an email at emmaononocoaching@gmail.com