âI longed to play the Bach violin double with my daughter â but then I got MSâ
When multiple sclerosis began to affect her fine motor skills, Shakira Hussein found a way to redesign her dream, rather than give it up altogether At first, I failed to recognise the significance of the deterioration in my violin technique. I was preoccupied by other concerns â the crushing exhaustion that I would describe to my doctors as ânot normal tirednessâ, the unexplained falls from my bike. I did not draw any connection between these issues and my out-of-tune violin playing. Only when the right side of my body detached itself from my central nervous system to the point where I could no longer pick up a pen or walk without a stick to support myself did the words this feels neurological cross my mind. By the time the neurologist told me the MRI results, I had self-diagnosed with everything from a brain tumour to stress. The official diagnosis of remitting-relapsing multiple sclerosis was almost a relief. My then eight-year-old daughter was not about to be orphaned. There were disease modifying therapies which would hopefully reduce the number and severity of the attacks. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Eventually the disease went into remission and
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