After dream wedding, Ben had to face reality of life-changing illness
TWO WEEKS BEFORE NUPTIALS, COUPLE GOT HEART-BREAKING DIAGNOSIS... BUT WITH APPEAL NEAR TARGET, ARE DETERMINED TO TAKE ON ANY TERRAIN...
BEN Jones had always been fit and active.
If he wasn’t outdoors cycling or running, he was out in the fresh air enjoying paintball or airsoft, another team shooting sport.
Fittingly, he proposed to his girlfriend, Lucy, high on a hill in the Peak District’s Dovedale.
Following the proposal in 2015, the couple set a date in July 2017 to tie the knot.
But just two weeks before their wedding day, Ben got the devastating news he had life-changing illness primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS).
A few months earlier, he had been to the cinema with Lucy when, on his way out, he twisted his ankle badly and fell. There was no obvious cause of the accident, and he joked to Lucy it was the “invisible step” he kept falling over. But the ankle did not heal.
Ben, of Sileby, sought medical help and was told he might have sprained ligaments. He was referred to a lower leg specialist.
They carried out several tests, but could not see anything wrong with Ben’s legs and concluded the problem was neurological.
The specialist then said he thought Ben might have motor neurone disease. He was referred to a neurologist who confirmed the problem was neurological, and although he did not have have motor neurone disease, he did have PPMS.
The news did not really sink in at the time, as Ben and Lucy had a wedding to prepare and it was taking place in Cyprus a fortnight later.
They got married as arranged, at a beautiful ceremony in the sun, surrounded by their family.
Ben, 36, struggled at times – the hot weather can badly affect MS sufferers – and although he was unstable during the wedding and was becoming more reliant on using a stick, he was determined to walk down the aisle and not have the walking aid in any of the photos.
“We had an amazing wedding, it was really wonderful,” Ben told the Mercury.
“And then we came home and had to face the reality of this illness that I’d been diagnosed with.”
The neurologist had explained to Ben and Lucy there was no medication he could take for the disease, and his condition would get worse.
As they came back down to reality