Susan Lamb knew something was wrong during a run with friends.

“It was a fun run with friends in May 1993. We were running and came to Hirst Wood. As I went through, I seemed to be losing co-ordination. I told my friends that the way my legs and feet were moving, I felt I would trip over the roots of the trees.”

She walked the rest of the way to the road, where she attempted to run again. “We went towards Bingley, and it was not long before I hit the floor. “I got to my feet and set off again, but I went down again and hit the floor quite hard.”

Susan, who lives in Tyersal, completed the run, and was attended to by ambulance staff. “I had grazed myself as I fell. I sat down, and after about an hour I was back to normal again.”

More than a month passed before the same thing happened again. “I was walking into town with my husband and lost co-ordination in my right leg – it was not doing what I wanted. It lasted all afternoon. I didn’t feel ill, it was more like tiredness in my legs.”

The couple were due to go on holiday, so Susan went to the doctor who sent her for blood tests. “They put it down to anaemia and I was prescribed tablets for six months.”

But the problems continued and became more frequent. “I went back to the doctor’s and had more tests, the results of which were normal,” she recalls. “But it became worse.”

Susan worked as a dinner lady and would walk to and from the local school. “I was feeling so tired that even this was becoming difficult, so I asked to see a specialist.”

It was not until spring 1995 that she found out what was wrong. “I had an MRI scan and when I went for the results, the doctor showed me the photographs and said: “You have MS.”

“I was okay in the surgery, but when I came out it hit me and I burst into tears.”

By that stage Susan was becoming too exhausted at work and gave it up a few months later. She has not worked since.

A car accident led to worsening of her condition and, now 53, she uses a wheeled walker to get around the house and also uses a wheelchair. “I cannot go into town on my own,” she says. “I can wash-up and iron sitting down, but not vacuum.

Susan’s husband Dennis is her full-time carer. “He is absolutely brilliant,” she says.

She joined the Bradford support group MS Friends more than ten years ago and is now secretary. “That has helped me a lot – it is good to speak to people who are feeling the same way.”

She attends West Yorkshire MS Therapy Centre in Rawdon and has raised funds for them through various activities such as abseiling. “I’ve also taken part in a sky-dive,” she says. She remains upbeat and positive. “MS is not the end of the world. I don’t look at what I can’t do, I look at what I can do.” Caroline Atkin, 42, is another member of MS Friends. She lives in Greengates with her teenage daughter Katherine. “Katherine was about four when I was diagnosed,” she says. “I had tingling and pins and needles. It started in one foot and then progressed. It was terrifying.”

Like Susan, diagnosis was a long time coming. “I made many trips to the doctors. I was told at one point that the problem was due to the fact I was wearing lots of different shoes, then they thought it was my back.”

Eventually she was referred to a neurologist and MS was quickly identified. The former bus driver had taken early retirement due to back trouble, which she now believes was caused by her MS. “That hit me hard as I really enjoyed driving,” she says.

Bringing up her daughter, she has found the fatigue hardest to cope with. “Fatigue is my worst problem. I hate being tired. I’d love to have the energy to go out to work.

“At the moment I’m walking unaided, but at times I have had to use a stick. I am in pain most of the time and can’t stay in one position for long.”

Caroline has found comfort in MS Friends. “It helps having people to chat and see how they have been affected.”

She adds: “I don’t know what the future holds – I take one day at a time.”

- MS Friends is a group of like-minded people in the Bradford district who either suffer from MS, are carers of people with MS or friends or supporters. The group meet on the third Tuesday of every month at 7.30pm at the Oddfellows Arms, Harrogate Road, Bradford. For more information, contact Susan Lamb on (01274) 662096 or Caroline Atkin on (01274) 618686 or e-mail enq@msfriends.co.uk or visit msfriends.org.uk.

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