Damien Mulley

I contributed to a piece that Markham Nolan helped put together on Multiple Sclerosis for the Sunday Business Post. My scowl is on the cover of the Agenda section and Mulley on the rocks is on pages 6 and 7 too. Oh how that photo will be reused for a future public upset…

Picture of the front cover taken by Bernie.

Markham covers his mother and the tough experience his whole family had with her MS and I give my experiences of being diagnosed with it earlier this year.

The piece I contributed is much longer than what’s in the Business Post and they added in my age to the piece too. I’m 31, not 27 as the article states. 31 and 3/4s at that. Overall the edited version reads very well. However the last two paragraphs which I thought the most important were edited out too, which is fair enough. They’re the pros. I’m including them here as I think it’s worth covering as if it wasn’t for this blog I wouldn’t have encountered other people that have MS experiences:

There are many like me who have MS, perhaps the majority but I only thought of wheelchairs and crutches before my own experience with MS. I might never get another attack and all I have is a slightly moany left side that I can easily deal with. I knew some of the history of Markham’s Mum and I was thinking would that be me in a few years. A few hours after I got out of hospital it was Markham I contacted to ask for his experience. Since I “came out” with MS a good deal of acquaintances and friends have told me privately of their MS or that of their spouse or parents. I was shocked at all these people close enough to me who have experience of MS and I never knew.

My blog has a phrase “invisible people have invisible” rights. When people with MS came to me, telling me their story it helped a lot. I wouldn’t have heard 80% of these uplifting stories had I not disclosed my MS on my blog and to friends and family. It is a personal choice though and being open about my MS has been of immense benefit to me. This was my story, why not tell yours.

Update: A post on this from Markham.