Childhood MS: Mohammed's story


20 February 2017

Mohammed, 17, was diagnosed with MS in 2013. The budding engineer tells us about his hopes for the future.

In September 2013 I experienced numbness on the left side of my body, feelings of tiredness and I could only see from one eye. It was getting more and more severe so I went to my local hospital and they sent me to Great Ormond Street. It was in the December that I was told I had MS. 

I knew nothing about MS at that moment and as soon as I got home I looked it up, but the first thing I found was that unfortunately it didn’t have a cure. I hope one day there will be one. 

I started off with a treatment which I had to take at home on alternate days, but that didn’t seem to work, I was still getting seriously ill and it affected my life a lot. I had to make lots of adjustments at school; I had to reschedule tests because of hospital appointments and when I was supposed to be choosing my GCSEs, I was in hospital severely ill for two weeks. 

In 2015 we decided to change drugs to Tysabri, and I haven’t had a relapse for nearly two years now. 

I like coming in to the hospital because the staff are so helpful; they have been helping me through my hard times and my good times. My whole family have supported me too, and my older sister is currently at university studying neurology because of me. After college I’d like to go to university too and study engineering because that is my passion. In my spare time I love to be active, and my favourite sports and hobbies are basketball and football. 

When I was first diagnosed, every single night I prayed to God: please help me, and at this moment, he has clearly helped me. For that I thank him.