Amywouldhavebeen proudofmyMSfight
Janis Winehouse reckons her singer daughter would be impressed with how she’s managed her condition since the star’s death
BY LISA SALMON JANIS Winehouse was coping with the first symptoms of multiple sclerosis before her daughter Amy was born. She didn’t realise she’d be coping with it after her girl had died.
Having felt the first symptoms of the disease in her 20s, Janis was finally diagnosed with it in 2003 – eight years before her superstar daughter Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning, aged 27.
Janis has been named as an ambassador for the MS Society, ahead of MS Awareness Week, and she believes Amy would have been delighted with the way she has been coping with the condition.
She said: “Amy would have been incredibly proud and supportive.
“She was always concerned about my health, so to see me this far along and still going, she’d think it was a real achievement.”
MS is a neurological condition where the body’s immune system attacks the myelin sheath coating around nerve fibres, causing loss of movement and sensation in various parts and functions of the body.
Janis, 64, experienced her first MS symptoms nearly 40 years ago but wasn’t diagnosed until 16 years ago.
She revealed: “In 1980, I started to have tingling in my hands and feet.
“I was given an ‘it may be MS’ response from my doctors, so I was very worried as I was aware what MS was and how it could possibly impact my life. I had no further episodes until 2003.
“After a viral infection, I was hospitalised after getting dizzy spells. An MRI exam found lesions on the brain.
“It was then finally confirmed that I have secondary progressive MS. I was very relieved, as I knew what I had and could start to live with it and deal with it.”
When she had that initial outbreak in 1980, she already had one-year-old son Alex but was warned to stop there.
Janis said: “I was told it would be better not to have more children.
“It’s different now as having MS shouldn’t stop you having a baby but such is my positive nature that Amy arrived in 1983.
“That’s been my outlook ever since – one of positivity and that life is to be lived.
“I decided to just carry on and live my life. I have so far been able to manage the symptoms.” While she accepts her condition and struggles with mobility, Janis won’t let it define her.
She said: “I just carry on as I am. I have slowed down a bit. Mentally, I’m fine, I have slight problems with my cognitive responses but my walking has deteriorated by 50 per cent in the last 10 years.
“It’s the biggest inhibitor of me getting around. I’ll do everything to stay out of a wheelchair.
“I get by using a walking stick, my husband Richard’s arm and occasionally the wall at home.
“My main symptom is having constant fatigue. I’m a very, very active person but feeling tired means I have to be active in spurts.”
Fatigue forced Janis to give up work as a locum pharmacist in 2009. She said: “At the time, it was heartbreaking as I’d lost my total independence as a person and was becoming reliant on others.
“My week now is filled with activities – I go to an MS therapy group twice a week, I’m a regular at a weekly swimming class.
“I also have physiotherapy and never miss my weekly yoga class. I’ve been going for nearly 40 years.
“Amy even used to say, ‘Mum, do you want to teach yoga?’ but I just want to practise it.”
And she is always happy to advise others facing the same kind of potentially life-changing diagnosis.
“It’s not the end of life. Different? Yes, but please don’t give up. Embrace the condition, work with it and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
“MS symptoms can be invisible, so you must let co-workers, family and friends know as much about your condition as you can, so they can understand and help you live as normal a life as possible.
“Do what you can and be positive. Having MS is not the end – there’s so much more you can do.”