17-year-old EDC student Lucy Wood, from Peterlee, made her editorial debut last week, sharing the story of her personal diagnosis with MS and how it’s affected her life since an early age.
Lucy’s battle with MS began at the age of 5 when she was diagnosed after birthday celebrations. “We got to the end of the night,” said Lucy. “I told my mam ‘I feel sick’ and as soon as I said it, I collapsed on the floor and was vomiting”.
“I didn’t realise what it meant at the time, but now I’m older I’ve realised it’s real life and I’ve got to deal with it.”
MS is a physiological condition that can lead to a range of symptoms and cause a range of physical disabilities. Reflecting on some of the challenges, Lucy said “I might look normal because I’m not in a wheelchair, but I have got a physical disability. MS gives you a lot of fatigue, and – especially during lockdown – it can lead me to burn out for over a day. I get anxious about not getting stuff done on time and it worries me about the future."
Lucy’s currently studying for her A-levels at ED6 Sixth Form here at East Durham College and wants to go into magazine journalism in the future. “If I hadn’t had the inspiration to go and do journalism, I wouldn’t want to do it now. It was bad, and I was missing loads of school, but on the other hand I’ve found a career from it.”
Lucy hasn’t let the challenges of MS stop her from achieving, now celebrating her first published article on the MS Society blog. “I wanted to do something, to show that MS isn’t the be all and end all and to show that I’m still a normal teenager.
“My story does mean a lot to me because if that can show people that MS doesn’t control them then that will mean the world.”
“Don’t think that this is the end of the world because I basically am living proof that you do have a life to live and when you join college you think of things you can do – for me it’s so easy to think of things I can’t do. The more I think about what I can do, the more I realise I can do well, and I can have a good life. “
Lucy’s hopes to continue raising awareness of MS with others with further blog content for the MS Society. She plans to keep writing for them, with an article about friendships and relationships currently in the works.
