Meet Joan

'In her introductory blog for MS Ireland, Joan diagnosed with MS four years ago, has a can-do attitude and a weakness for coffee and chocolate!'

Hello! My name is Joan Jordan and this is my M.S story. Please go easy on me readers as this is my first attempt at blogging. I was a very average English student in school but maybe I have a bit more to say about living life with MS than I ever had to say about Shakespeare’s Sonnets! 

2010 was not a good year for me and my family. I was hospitalised in May, having lost the power in my hand and foot. I got my diagnosis of relapsing remitting MS ” Lightning Bolt No One...” Within a few days, my three year old was diagnosed with a severe form of epilepsy, called Doose Syndrome. “Lightning Bolt No Two..!”

Normally, I am a positive person. I have a “can-do” attitude and I can roll with the punches. I had been juggling a demanding job in I.T, a husband, a Celtic-tiger mortgage and two kids. This wasn’t normal though. Over the next few days / months / years I have come to know and love a new kind of normal. MS has taken so much but it has also given some unexpected things.

The small stuff has gone. I don’t worry about what other people think of me. I don’t worry if the dishes aren’t washed. I don’t look into other people’s lives and wish they were mine.

I love being there for my children. I love having an ice-cream on a sunny day and a hot chocolate on a chilly one. I love having the time to live my life. I love the friends who have stuck with me during a bumpy ride.

Since 2010, I have been involved in a clinical trial for an MS drug. It involves lots of extra trips to the hospital and lots of needles, but I feel that I am making a real contribution towards finding a cure. I will be on the trial for three years this week and intend to celebrate that I am still here - with a few scorch-marks from those lightning bolts!!

Thank you so much for reading my blog and I look forward to our comments.

Joan

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