Six years ago, Katie O\u2019Loughlin was experiencing numbness and weakness. The fatigue was immense and she was always feeling tired, but she and doctors put the symptoms down to stress and being overworked.<\/p>\n
It was only when she lost movement on the right side of her body that she was sent to the hospital\u2019s emergency department.<\/p>\n
Originally, they believed she had a brain tumour, but when a neurologist thought she saw a lesion on O\u2019Loughlin\u2019s spinal cord, it was the first time multiple sclerosis<\/a> (MS) came into the conversation.<\/p>\n MS is a condition that causes damage to the nerves in the central nervous system, which consists of the brain and spinal cord. The symptoms vary from person to person, but can affect mobility, communication and cognition.<\/p>\n \u201cI went nearly completely blind. They thought it was a stroke, then they said it was a brain tumour. I was relieved it wasn\u2019t a brain tumour, but I was also dealing with the grief of the diagnosis,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Her grandfather had the same disease but he died in the 1960s when there was no treatment, and the progression of the condition was quite rapid.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a lot to delve into. I should\u2019ve sought counselling sooner than I did, really, but it was Covid. But 10 years earlier, the diagnosis would have been very different. The disease-modifying therapies have really come a long way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n [\u00a0\u2018I knew straight away\u2019: coming to terms with MS and being the healthiest version of yourselfOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n