Colette’s life free of relapses

COLETTE Edwards, 53, was diagnosed with MS in 2011 after suffering vision and co-ordination problems.

It put the mum-of-two’s career as an occupational therapist on hold and she was unable to do simple tasks such as walking her dog or lifting the kettle.

Over the next five years she tried various treatments for her aggressive “relapsing-remitting” type of MS.

Nothing would abate the worsening relapses and damaging spasms that would impair her walking and often cause her to collapse when getting out of bed. Keeping her job proved challenging as she became unable to drive and struggled to write and type.

Colette, from Rotherham, South Yorks, said: “I was always thinking, ‘Would I need a scooter or a wheelchair for work?’ and, ‘How would I manage as my condition deteriorated?’.”

In 2016, her life was transformed by an autologous stem cell transplant at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust during the MIST trial.

Six years on, Colette has fulfilled her dream of living in the countryside after moving to a village in West Yorkshire with new husband Mark in 2020.

She said: “Thankfully I have not experienced any relapses, which continues to give me security and assurance that my condition is in a state of prolonged remission.

“I started doing a PhD in 2018 and am able to do all the things I wanted to do with my family.

“I no longer live with the anxiety of waiting for the next episode of MS to take my independence away.”