Connor's letter to MS


20 June 2022

In 2022, Connor will be taking part in the Great North Run to support the MS Trust. Here, Connor writes a letter to MS, openly sharing his thoughts on the condition his sister, Patsy, was diagnosed with at the age of 14. 

My sister became my role model, constantly showing me how to deal with unforeseen circumstances.

Connor

Dear MS, 

I feel compelled to write to you, MS, with so little understanding of what pain you cause to not only my family but to others. I should probably start at the beginning as you attack so many people so how would you remember my sister? 

At the time, she was a normal big sister. She took control of the TV remote, she paid us to do the household chores with her pocket money and bribed us with sweets to not tell our mam and dad. She loved spending time with her school friends and was always outdoors until the street lights came on.

You started to leave scars when she was 14! We didn’t know who you were, where you came from or anything for that matter. We just witnessed how you slowly started to destroy her life. I don’t think you know the true extent of the damage you have caused.

Leaving her body constantly wracked with pain, doctors with many questions which were left to be answered and her family in limbo trying to figure out what was going on. You left me and my family standing there helpless, trembling in fear and suffering, all because of you. Throughout this time, there is nothing you didn’t demand from my sister, my family or me.

Two weeks felt like two years when anticipating the results of a brain scan. Results showing that you have left evidence of your bitter ways on her brain. You left lesions and from then on, all of our lives changed.

You took away our childhood, robbing us of potential memories we could have made. Becoming a young carer at the age of 10 was hard. Trying to complete my GCSEs while constantly worrying about you wasn’t pleasant at all but I got through it. My sister became my role model, constantly showing me how to deal with unforeseen circumstances. 

You could imagine the shock that it gave us that you decided to hold a permit in my sister’s body. You just think it’s acceptable to park up and progressively persist to take away her vision, memory, speech, mobility, and the control of her organs. You also find the need to harass her central nervous system leaving her with a few or next to no white blood cells and susceptible to any disease out there. Even in the global pandemic you still felt empowered by leaving her in such a vulnerable position. Why do you feel the need to continue to give my sister such grief? You are nothing but a bully.

You may think you had control but you certainly did not. Despite all you have done and what you continue to do, she started a fundraising campaign for everyone you continue to trouble. Struck by Patsy’s bravery, families all across the UK raised over £140,000 to find a way to overcome you and your twisted ways.

Unfortunately, you continue to stay put even after three rounds of Lemtrada. I am just somewhat confused to why you chose my sister. I wish I could have persuaded you to choose me. I continue to ask myself questions but one that always plays on my mind is what has she done to deserve this?

For that reason I will spend my life fighting for hers. 

All of us are innocent and do not deserve your cruel interventions. We are all left to pray that one day, a cure is found and that you become extinct.

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