Family history book helps to raise MS cash
Cousin in ground-breaking research trial
An author, whose cousin was one of the first people in the world to take part in a revolutionary clinical trial, has raised more than £1,000 for the charity that’s funding the research.
Alison Logie, 83, from Bridge of Allan, spent more than 20 years writing a book about her family history.
When ‘Elder Roots and Fruits: The Lives and Loves of a Formidable Family’ was finally published this year, Alison asked people to make a donation to the MS Society in exchange for a signed copy.
More than 40 friends attended the signing session at St Saviour’s Episcopal Church in Bridge of Allan, with more supporters donating online.
Three members of Alison’s family live with multiple sclerosis (MS) including her cousin’s daughter Ailsa Guidi, who has secondary progressive MS. Ailsa was one of the first participants recruited to MS Society-funded Octopus, a ground-breaking global multi-arm, multi-stage (MAMS) trial seeking to find treatments that will slow, stop or even reverse disability progression in progressive MS.
Alison, a retired teacher who has three adult children and eight grandchildren, said: “I was really delighted when I found out Ailsa was going to take part in the Octopus trial. I saw her talking about it on television and it sounds brilliant.
“She’s an amazing person. Although she uses a wheelchair, she throws herself into all sorts of activities like skiing, cycling, swimming. She has a tremendous zest for life. The Octopus trial has given her hope that she will continue to practise these activities.”
More than 15,000 people in Scotland, and more than 130,000 people in the whole of the UK, live with multiple sclerosis (MS). Each week in Scotland, 14 people are diagnosed with MS; throughout the UK it’s 130. It’s a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord, impacting how people move, think and feel.
Alison was inspired to write
Elder Roots and Fruits by a comment her daughter made after they attended a family reunion together in 1989. Having met “the great-aunts” for the first time, and felt they “lived through such interesting times”, Hannah suggested her mum should write about those times.
The book focuses on Alison’s mum’s family, starting with the author’s great-grandparents (Ailsa’s great-great-grandparents) and moving forward to her parents’ generation. It explores the lives of a family that lived through two World Wars in a time when there were no computers, televisions or phones, and sex before marriage was frowned upon. Alison enlisted the help of relatives who each wrote about their own immediate family members, some from memory and others after conducting informal interviews.
She continued: “I just asked them to talk about their memories of living at that time, I didn’t give them any set topics to talk about. It’s a bit of a hotchpotch. I think my family members who’ve read the book have learnt quite a lot about the times their relatives lived through, for example two World Wars, when the fathers were away from their spouses for three or five years. They came back probably very different people, but the marriages survived.
“Families are very important. My cousins are very close – I’m very close to Ailsa’s father. Members of our extended family give each other a lot of support. That’s lovely to have and I think we’ve been very, very lucky. Not everybody has that. It has to be worked at, it doesn’t just happen. You have to have reunions, get people together, make an effort. It’s hard work but it’s worth it.
“The book signing was a nice thing to do. We laid on tea, coffee, wine and cakes and there was a very welcoming atmosphere. People were very happy to give to the MS Society. It feels good knowing the money we’ve raised will go towards things like the Octopus trial.”
This is the second book Alison has written. About 20 years ago, Stirling Council Libraries published ‘Doocots of Stirlingshire’, which she wrote about the dovecotes (structures designed to house pigeons or doves) in the area.
Ailsa, a mother-of-three who lives in Surrey, England, said: “Although Allie knows a lot of her extended family, as you’ll see in her book Elder Roots and Fruits, it’s still shocking to have three family members with MS.
It’s a lot for one family. It just shows you how common it is. If you think that there are 130,000 people in the UK living with MS, and then add in all of their friends and family, that’s a lot of people impacted by MS.”
Morna Simpkins, director of MS Society Scotland, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to Alison for raising such a fantastic amount for the MS Society. We’re the largest charitable funder of MS researcher in the UK and it’s thanks to our supporters, like Alison, and our participants, like Ailsa, that trials like Octopus can happen.”
Donate to Alison’s fundraiser at: https://www. justgiving.com/page/alisonlogie-1708194721764
Buy Elder Roots and Fruits: The Lives and Loves of a Formidable Family at: https:// www.amazon.co.uk/elderroots-fruits-formidablefamily/dp/1805412868 or ask in your local bookshop.
I just asked them to talk about their memories...