Being an MS Ambassador and overcoming obstacles

It has been an unbelievable time for me since my last blog. At the end of my last blog post, I described how I have connected with quite a few people off the Shift.ms website, become a  Buddy for more than one person and I’m also the Whatsapp Buddy Network Group Administrator.

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All of the above volunteering roles are so important and worthwhile to me, but can be time consuming. However, even though it can eat into my days, it is all worth it as it means I am helping others who may be struggling or just want a chat, which I am more than willing to do.

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There couldn't be a better time for people with MS to gain the support they need from such a supportive environment. It is very rewarding to know you have helped out people even if it's only a small amount. It’s better than nothing to that person. The Buddy Network is very well set up, with feedback from the Buddy and the person you are buddying after a month, 3 months and 6 month intervals. This means that you can both keep track of how you are both doing within this new relationship. If there are any issues, you can try and resolve them between you, or if this is outside your scope of expertise then you can get help from staff.  

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Helping others with MS

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I do feel being involved with Shift.ms has been great for me to gain support from like minded people whilst also helping others. I have always had a passion for helping others and would rather help others by using words; either through verbal means or written. I find this more worthwhile than giving money away, even though money does help with the funding to make these things possible; pushing my passion of helping others. 

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I have very recently joined Overcoming MS and started and even introduced myself to the groups, telling them about myself and my aspirations which I am hoping will make a difference to other people's lives. I always found it difficult growing up being very shy and wouldn't venture out of my comfort zone. I often sat on the fence when it came to conflict or discussions. Since becoming an adult, I have become much tougher and say my opinions when they’re needed. 

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Growing up

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As a child, I had an aversion to hospitals or doctors and would panic and have anxiety attacks which caused me to pass out a lot. This could happen at just the thought of going to the doctors for a routine check to a blood test. The hospital could never find anything wrong with me and just put it down to low sugar levels, which was all well and good but why was it dropping so drastically and so often? The only resolution the doctors could prescribe was to eat a chocolate bar at 11am when I had a break at school, this would increase the sugar levels in case they drop but how would they know it would drop at this time and why? This went on for a year or so and still got that faint feeling even though I was eating the chocolate bar at 11am each day.

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My childhood wasn't great at all, with my mum and dad getting divorced when myself and my sister were at such a young age. Then we had a difficult upbringing with a step dad which was very tense and not a happy time at all.  Our parents getting remarried and joining the two families had its fair share of issues and uncertainty. There was some great deal of trauma from these events at such a young age and certain problems would develop over time. It didn't help with both parents arguing with each other which caused a lot of stress for both siblings.

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Many years passed and I was still unsure of what was wrong with me and why I felt different about everything.  Over 30-40 years ago there was no medication and not enough research into what had been causing it all.  Why was I fainting all the time and feeling so different from other children? This remained a mystery or enigma for all my childhood.

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Fast forward to age 40 and MS symptoms started to develop further and become more prominent as the death of my mum with her MS struggles set in. The silver lining out of this battle was that research, drugs and support have bounded along so rapidly. These struggles that people are working through have spurred my passion to help others more and more. I  decided a long time ago to kind of make it my mission to help as many people as I can and make a positive difference to their lives too.

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Becoming an MS Ambassador is just a curve in my branch of learning and development.

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