My story
My name is Les. I was a Lift Engineer with a degree in electronics. I have two children and I use to enjoy playing football weekly and occasionally Scuba diving. Most Friday nights I would practice at my diving club, swimming round the bottom of the 3.6 meter diving pool which would leave me feeling refreshed for the weekend. A group of us lift engineers would meet at a leisure centre on Wednesday nights to play football on the astro turf.
Approximately 9 years ago I woke up with a slight blurriness in my left eye. Thought I had reached the age where I needed glasses. After tests I was diagnosed with MS. This did not mean anything to me, so I continued my life as normal since it was a minor inconvenience.
Approximately 4 years ago I damaged ligaments in my knee playing football, which caused me to walk with a limp. I went to an osteopath to try and repair the damage. In a short time after, I caught a virus where the whole of my lower part of my body had a rash and blew up. After the virus I returned to the osteopath, as my leg seemed no better, which I thought was due to the swelling, but I was told the leg was alright and the problem was due to the signal down my spin.
Since then my hips have become less controlled and I require crutches to walk and have a drooping right foot and am unable to lift my right knee. During this period I changed my personnel car to an automatic, went for a driving assessment and paid for hand controls to be fitted. Things changed at work too. My company have been good towards me, as I am still employed by them.
When I was limping badly my company employed a mate to carry my tools and drive for me during the day. When I had my driving assessment I had to tell my company that I could no longer drive the manual van. They arranged for me to have a medical, which they now would like me to have annually, due to the nature of the disease, and moved me to a position in the office under the Technical department. My finances have changed due to the type of work I am now doing, but I am pleased I still have an income. I am also lucky in that I do not suffer with any pain.
