After getting diagnosed with M.S. in 2015, I went back to University to study animation at the ATU. I wanted to create a symbolic character to help explain the invisible symptoms of M.S. I remembered a conversation I had with my M.S. support worker Charlie McLaughlin and he described MS fatigue as like having a battery and I had to learn how much energy I had in my M.S. battery, for the day. This made so much sense to me, it was so much easier to visualise what was going on. Through my studies I read, ‘if you can imagine it, you can draw it and if you can draw it, you can animate it ’and I changed it to, ‘how do you show the invisible symptoms of M.S.?
Well, if you can imagine it, you can draw it and if you can draw it, you can animate it’. I think the M.S. battery can help get through some complex medical terms and give a symbolic/visual explanation of what is going on with M.S. symptoms. If I can help one person understand what is going on with their M.S. or help someone with M.S. explain to a family/loved one then I’ve done my job.