Eliza Middleton
“More than my MS”
I am a scientist, an athlete and a mother. I am more than my MS.
I work full-time as an entomologist, am passionate about my health and fitness, and I have a growing family. My initial reaction to my diagnosis was that I was about to lose all of this - everything I had worked for.
I had my first child at the end of 2018 and at the beginning of 2019, I was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. At the time, I didn’t really know what it was, only that it was serious. MS conjured a picture in my mind of a quick slide into disability and incapacity and so at the moment of my diagnosis, I was floored.
Prior to my diagnosis, I, like most people, had experienced suffering; I had overcome abuse and obesity and I had picked up my suffering and shouldered it to make myself stronger, using it as a springboard to working on myself and building the best version of me through the vulnerabilities and insecurities that my suffering exposed. I eventually became more than someone who was abused, someone who was obese, just as I will become - and already am -more than my MS diagnosis.
I’m keen to share my experience of living with multiple sclerosis whilst maintaining full-time employment, staying fit and healthy, contributing to and caring for my family and giving back to my community. I am new to life with MS but over the years I’ve learnt to be adaptable, resilient, and most of all, to take things in my stride with a positive attitude and outlook. My energy is infectious and after a few minutes chatting with me I know you’ll feel inspired to become more than the suffering you have in your own life. I’ll show you how you can use that suffering as the springboard to being adaptable in the face of adversity and to becoming the best that you can be.
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