Woman told she had illness that killed mum after forgetting how to count
Justine was diagnosed with four serious illonesses in seven months
A woman was diagnosed with four serious illnesses in seven months, finally giving in and getting help after finding she couldn't count to 10 any more. Justine Martin, 54, said she ignored the symptoms, despite her mother having died at an early age.
Justine, now 54, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2011. The chronic neurological condition causes brain damage, cognitive decline, memory loss, fatigue and mobility issues and her early symptoms were worrying. Justine said: 'In just seven months, I was diagnosed with four serious illnesses. I felt like my brain and body were betraying me, one function at a time."
'At first, it was small things I tried to ignore,' she says. 'Then it became impossible to push aside. 'I could not count anymore. Simple maths was gone. I could not read a clock or use money properly. My feet were in constant pain, like they were burning or buzzing all the time. My vision would blur or double, sometimes without warning.
Her mother had had MS, dying of complications from the condition when Justine was just 26. 'I'd watched her slow decline and it left a scar, a deep fear I carried quietly,' she says. 'But my brother and I were told that we would never get it. That it was not something we had to worry about. Yet here I was, sitting in a neurologist's office, being told that I had it too.'
She describes the diagnosis as feeling 'like the air had been sucked out of the room.'
'I do not even remember what was said after that,' she continues. 'It was like I was underwater. My heart pounded in my chest. My hands started to shake. My ears were ringing.' Justine made tearful calls to her children, her friends, her family and then went back to the office where she was working as a programme director.
'I told my boss what had happened, hoping for a moment of understanding. She looked at me and said: 'Go home, put your big girl panties on, and come back to work in a few hours'. 'That was it. No compassion. No empathy. Just cold words that hit me like a slap across the face.'
That same year MS left Justine with an acquired brain injury, compounding her cognitive difficulties. It was the beginning of a relentless medical journey. She was then diagnosed with an overwhelming list of conditions including atrial fibrillation, atrial tachycardia, pericarditis, melanoma, mixed cryoglobulinemia, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), lipoedema, mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), long Covid and cellulitis.
But 2017 was her hardest year when a major MS flare left her unable to walk and fearing life in a wheelchair. 'It was terrifying. One minute, I was managing life the best I could, juggling MS, cancer, heart issues - all of it - and the next, my body just gave up on me,' she says.
'One morning, I went to get out of bed and couldn't put my feet on the ground because of the pain, I honestly thought: 'what now?.' At first, I thought maybe I had just slept funny, or that my legs had gone numb. But as soon as I tried to stand, the pain shot through me like fire.
'It was not just sore. It was searing, stabbing, relentless nerve pain that felt like I was walking on broken glass and electric shocks at the same time. I screamed and collapsed back on the bed.'
Doctors told Justine she might never walk again. 'I just went numb,' she says. 'I couldn't process it. I felt helpless, broken and at my body for failing me. And that no matter how hard I fought, something else came at me.'
She then spent three weeks in hospital relearning how to walk. 'It wasn't just physically painful - it was emotionally crushing. I cried a lot. I swore a lot. And I wanted to give up.' Each step was agonising, but she persevered and proved the doctor wrong.
She decided to start her own business and set up an office in her living room, working for up to 14 hours a day surrounded by laundry and medication. Her coffee table became a desk as she was unable to sit up, and an electric blanket under her legs helped alleviate the constant pain.
'I worked in my dressing gown some days, with a heat pack on my back and my feet propped up because the pain was too much to stand,' she says. 'I answered emails between naps. I took phone calls lying down. I used timers to keep me on track, because my brain could only hold focus for so long. There were days I cried between tasks or when I forgot what I was doing halfway through.'
Remarkably, she launched five businesses under the Justine Martin Corporation and she has gone from strength to strength, winning 20 business awards. Her work encompasses coaching, mentoring and resilience training alongside a publishing house. Justine has also been working hard at the gym and became a competitive strength athlete, training in the all-abilities, weightlifting three times a week.
'I'm not just surviving now. I'm thriving. I'm stronger than I've ever been – not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually,' she says. 'I have grit and stubbornness. And I choose purpose in the pain. I have used every heartbreak as fuel and motivation to repair my life. I now laugh louder and walk taller - even on the days it hurts.'
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