Dear Friends,
We in MS Ireland are lucky to represent a vibrant and strong community. Our mission is to enable and empower people living with MS to live the lives of their choice to their fullest potential. It is important to us that
we provide you with opportunities to have your voices heard on the issues that matter to you and to support the wider MS community on issues that impact you collectively. One such issue is the upcoming Budget. MS Ireland have submitted our Pre-Budget Submission for 2023 and your support of this would be greatly appreciated. On page 15 you will find a summary of our key asks accompanied on page 14 by a tear-out letter that you can complete and send to your local representative, asking them to support us.
One of our highlights this year was co-ordinating an art exhibition featuring 12 original artworks, created by people living with MS. This opportunity gave these artists the chance to express their thoughts and experiences on symptoms though art... and the results are incredible!! You will find an overview of the exhibition on page 8.
Some very exciting news in MS research was reported on earlier this year, when a group of researchers from Harvard University published a paper which found that the risk of developing MS increases 32-fold after infection of the Epstein- Barr virus (EBV). To read more about this, turn to page 18.
In keeping with this editions theme of taking action on the issues that impact us, we feature pieces by a number MS community members. In the first, Pat McCarthy discusses crime prevention for people living with MS on page 7. On page 20 Paul Dawson writes about Donegal’s first Changing Places step down facility. Page 19 offers a very special update from Yvonne McGoldrick, a writer who had their letter published in MS News almost 20 years ago!
We hope you enjoy this edition of MS News. As always, if you have any comments or would like to contribute, our Editor, Aoife Kirwan would be more than happy to hear from you – aoifek@ms-society.ie
