'I'm reclaiming my life' - Clare woman speaks of her experience on World MS Day
A Clare woman with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) says she is reclaiming her life after the shocking diagnosis left her in a dark space. Shirley Keane O'Brien, 46, was diagnosed with the chronic illness in 2021.
She found it incredibly difficult to accept at first and didn't tell her children Evan, now 16, and Lauren, 18, until a year later. The mother-of-two felt this was the right thing to do, as she wanted to make sure she was in the right headspace to share the news.
The diagnosis was particularly tough as the country was amid a strict Covid-19 lockdown. However, Shirley is in a much better and more positive space now and is an ambassador for MS Ireland.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror about her diagnosis as today marks World MS Day, she said: "I wasn't the kind of person that showed a lot of vulnerability. I was a busy mother, a strong, independent woman, working full time.
"It was a really difficult time, you kind of go into a depression. Depression in MS can manifest in extreme irritability, so I think that's kind of what I experienced.
"The Covid-19 lockdown hit, and I found myself retreating into isolation. In a strange way getting space to process what was happening was good, but it was also one of the hardest times of my life."
MS symptoms vary greatly from person to person. Common symptoms include fatigue, numbness, tingling, vision problems, muscle stiffness or spasms and cognitive difficulties.
Around 9,000 to 10,000 people live with the condition in Ireland, as the disease's onset usually occurs between the ages of 20 and 40. It affects the central nervous system, particularly the brain and spinal cord, and there is no cure.
MS is also an autoimmune disorder, where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissues. Shirley said she also felt very ashamed when she was diagnosed with MS, a feeling she doesn't think is spoken about enough when it comes to the chronic illness.
She added: "It's like the seven stages of grief, there's denial and one of the main emotions that I felt was shame. I felt a lot of shame." This couldn't be further from the truth now for the mother-of-two, who advocates for the community and wants others living with MS to know that there is life after diagnosis.
She continued: "I decided I was going to take back control of my life. At the end of 2022, I started some counselling, I was kind of stuck within the same room as the MS diagnosis. I was struggling to sort of move forward and figure out my next move.
"That acceptance phase is the biggest hurdle, it's far more than just accepting it emotionally or personally, you really have to put in the work. I stopped fighting with the tools that would help me, and I made peace with everything, including the use of the walker, crutch, and even the wheelchair when needed."
The mother-of-two said she is extremely lucky to have made peace with her diagnosis, as some people never get through it. She added: "I'm extremely fortunate because that is not something that comes naturally or easy to people at all.
"I think you get to a point after MS diagnosis where you're at a bit of a crossroads and it's very difficult for people to get back control of their lives. So I am very fortunate that I've been able to do that."
Shirley is the first guest of MS Ireland's new podcast Living with MS, which was launched today. It aims to give a voice to the Irish MS community to share their stories from diagnosis to today.
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