Determined Tina vows to work for as long as she can
66-YEAR-OLD INSISTS JOB AND HOSPICE SUPPORT KEEPS HER GOING AFTER SHOCK MND DIAGNOSIS
A TERMINALLY ill woman says having Motor Neurone Disease (MND) will not stop her from working.
Tina Parker, 66, from Farnborough, was diagnosed in May. After visiting her brother in Spain in 2019, she started suffering a bad back and began falling over on her left leg.
She said: “I was invited to a party one weekend and couldn’t go as it got to a stage where I couldn’t move and was really sore.”
Following months of physiotherapy she was told it was a problem with a nerve in her leg.
She added: “For nearly two years I thought it was just a trapped nerve. I wouldn’t have dreamt it was anything else.”
Ms Parker was due to have a nerve conduction test but then came Covid-19 and it was cancelled.
Once restrictions eased and hospitals began opening again, she went for scans and tests and was eventually phoned by her neurologist and told to go in and see her.
Ms Parker said: “She said she wanted a blunt conversation and wanted me to bring someone with me. You can imagine how I felt. I thought oh my God there’s got to be something really wrong with me to call me in with the pandemic on.”
On being diagnosed with MND she said: “Well you could have just knocked me down with a feather. I couldn’t believe it. I came home from the hospital and was in absolute bits. I just wanted to do away with myself really at the time. I thought ‘I’m finished’.”
She was then put in touch with Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care, whose support she described as a “godsend”.
She said: “I was a bit worried about going there as all I had in my head was that this is an end-of-life kind of thing. But I’m glad I went as it’s an amazing place.
“I walked in and everyone was so lovely and welcoming, and to be honest I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
Ms Parker has a rare and slow form of MND called progressive muscle atrophy, meaning she has been given seven to 10 years and is also predicted to be in a wheelchair by next year.
She is visited regularly by her son, daughter and two siblings, who all live nearby, to see if she needs help, and is even looking to book a family holiday next year if well enough.
She added: “We’re quite a close family. Obviously, at first it was a shock to all of us but they are coping really well.”
Despite being advised to give up work by her neurologist, Ms Parker continues to work from home as a scheme manager for a retirement home. She said: “I get quite tired but I enjoy work and if I didn’t go in I’d be sitting at home looking at four walls thinking about this condition I’ve got.
“I keep busy all the time and I don’t sit about much if I can help it. I’m going to keep working until I can’t do it anymore.”