Glenrothes gran shares Multiple Sclerosis story as World MS Day campaign kicks off

Tina Coventry (51) was diagnosed with the condition two years ago and is now advocating for patients newly diagnosed with the condition. She said she was overwhelmed upon receiving her diagnosis in 2022. World MS Day is on May 30.

She explained: “I just felt like everybody was talking to me – MS specialists, nurses, consultants, GPs. It was all quite full on at the beginning, to the point that you didn’t actually take a lot of it in. To be honest, it was kind of like a learning curve where you find your own way of dealing with things.”

Tina, an NHS clinical research assistant, first experienced symptoms in 2020, having woken up with no feeling from the waist down.

She explained: “I’d been up and around with my work the previous day with no issues. It was the throes of COVID-19, and we were just on our feet all day for months and months. I worked a full day on a Monday, woke up on Tuesday, and couldn’t feel anything in my lower half.”

She then spent a week in the hospital and underwent a range of tests, which failed to reach a conclusion. She was later discharged with the understanding that it was an inflammation of the spinal cord.

She explained: “I went about with that explanation for about a year and a half, and then I had an issue with my vision. It really flared up, like somebody had punched me right in the eye. I got an emergency appointment at the opticians and it went from there. They said they needed to refer me back to neurology, then I needed to have another MRI. It was confirmed then that I had relapsing remitting MS.”

Now she wants to share her journey, having heard from others who have gone through similar experiences.

Tina said: “I was thinking of someone who has been recently diagnosed with MS, because I often see stories from people who’ve had it for a while, and it’s more about the journey than the start. I wanted to speak about the beginning.”

Morna Simpkins, director of MS Society Scotland, said that people react to being told they have a condition like MS in a variety of different ways.

She explained: “People can be shocked, upset or frightened for the future. Some are relieved to discover what’s been causing their unexplained symptoms; others might shut down emotionally. Most people experience a combination of reactions and emotions in the time after their diagnosis. There’s no right or wrong way to react.”

Morna said she would like to thank Tina for sharing her story.

She continued: “This World MS Day we’re pleased to be able to highlight some of the support available to people with an MS diagnosis, as well as raising awareness of what life can be like for someone after they’re diagnosed. We’d like to thank Tina for sharing her story.”