MS gave me the resilience I needed to become an author
Diagnosed with MS and later cancer, Jane channelled her energy into writing and is now a published author.
I was diagnosed with RRMS when I was 27 and a single, young professional with a promising career. My first symptom was acute optic neuritis, quickly followed by numbness and pins and needles. Soon I couldn’t sign my name, let alone walk or see properly.
My life changed almost overnight. That was the first of many relapses and I really struggled.
Fate has a funny way of intervening. Through pure chance I reconnected with someone I’d known for years. I then got married, left my career (reluctantly, but unavoidably) and had two children.
I found looking after my young family and recognising my own health needs very challenging. My lifelong dream of being a published writer continued to take a back seat.
When my youngest child was in his teens, I allowed myself to return to my dream and enrolled on several online courses. These were helpful, fairly anonymous and I could fit them in round my MS.
In fact, I had no reason to mention the fact that I had MS and I quite enjoyed being just a ‘regular’ writer.
The diagnosis of a rare, but treatable, cancer in 2018 gave me another kick up the backside and the time to really reflect on my life. I’d had MS for 25 years by then, and learnt to mostly manage my life with it.
The cword ‘cancer’ put me into a complete tailspin and brought everything into sharp focus.
The one thing I wanted to achieve for myself was to get my novel finished and published.
By the time I was ready to submit it for publication, the publishing world had changed, and I submitted it directly to small publishing houses.
While I didn’t know whether any of my submissions would be successful, I told myself that no rejection could ever hurt as much as being told that I had MS or cancer.
Those diagnoses had definitely toughened me up and made me realise what’s important in life!
I did receive some rejections, but then had three offers in one week.
My debut mystery/cosy crime novel, A Deadly Inheritance, was published on 1 December 2022 and was well-received. But then life dealt me another blow. Just 50 days later my publisher announced it was ceasing to trade and I was back to square one.
Once again, the resilience MS has given me wouldn’t let me give up and I decided to take control and go down the independent publishing route.
I found a wonderful team to help me, and I was delighted to launch a brand new, much better version of my novel.
Writing suits my life as I fit it around my much-needed two-hour rests in the afternoon. Many meetings and courses are now online and if I choose to go to anything in-person, I try and make sure I build in recovery time for the rest of the week.
My juggling skills of old come in handy, but I still overdo it sometimes and pay the price. I enjoy escaping into a world of my own creation where I can run vicariously through my protagonist.
As I am writing a series, I’m planning for one of my main characters to develop MS in a future book, so that readers can understand more about it.
The writing community is a close one. The Society of Authors has a Facebook group for Authors with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses, which is hugely supportive. They just ‘get’ MS.
I’m now proud to be a writer with MS.
https://mstrust.org.uk/news/stories/ms-gave-me-resilience-i-needed-become-author