Brave Southwater mum's heartfelt message

Thirty-five-year-old Jay Strickland found out she had the disease four years ago and admits: “I was terrified.”

Jay had grown up seeing her mum Lesley suffer from the same condition and knew just what could be in store for her.

"I found out that I had MS by pure chance when I was referred to an endocrinologist to check my hormone levels,” she said. “I had been having pins and needles intermittently.”

The specialist made a swift diagnosis – and normal life for Jay came to a stop.

She was put on a high dose of steroids and later on a chemotherapy drug called Lemtrada which meant she had to shield during the pandemic."My main symptoms are pain, weakness, fatigue, brain fog and sensory overload,” she said.

It affects her everyday life and stops her doing normal things with her 12-year-old son Eben, partner Danny Warwick and family.

By last September she suffered a major disabling relapse.

"It stopped me walking and I was put again on high dose steroids to speed up the recovery.

"I learned how to walk again but was left with left hand side weakness, pain, and sensory issues in my knee, as well as crippling fatigue/pain.”

But Jay, who works as an IT consultant, was determined not to give up. And when she was offered treatment known as HSCT – haematopoietic stem cell transplantation – she grabbed it with both hands.

The treatment is an intense chemotherapy treatment which aims to stop the damage MS causes by wiping out and then regrowing the immune system, using the patients’ stem cells.

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Jay started on the treatment at St George’s Hospital in Tooting in May and was discharged last week.

Despite losing her hair and other side effects, the hardest part of the treatment, she says, was having to stay in isolation for three weeks.

And even now, she has to limit contact with others – her son Eben is staying with his dad Chris – and she even has to steer clear of her pet dog and cats.“I am now in the final stages of the second part of treatment and it has been hard, gruelling in fact,” said Jay.

"I want to spread awareness but also make people aware it’s not for the faint hearted.

"It’s been challenging on the whole family, my relationship, my boy who I can’t see because of the risk of infection and of course the treatment on my body.”

But she praised all the medical staff who have helped her and especially her family and friends.

She said Eben’s dad and family had been really supportive along with her sister Laura Nicholls and partner Danny.

“The family unit has been gold dust because I have needed their support during my journey.”

She says that although the HSCT treatment ‘is not a cure for MS, it essentially resets your immune system’ it will allow her to feel ‘semi normal’ in the near future.