Tim Sorrell - running a half marathon with MS

"I was training for the London Triathlon in the summer of 2005 when I felt the first symptoms of what would – some 4 years later – finally be diagnosed as MS.

I’m not an athlete by any stretch of the imagination, but had signed up to race with a friend to help him raise a bit of cash for a cause close to his heart … and there’s nothing like the looming prospect of a 1500m swim, 40km cycle and 10km run to focus your mind on getting fitter.

I wasn’t aiming to do anything more than finish, but when I woke up that fateful morning with a numbness in my right hand that soon spread across my body and down into my legs, it pretty soon became clear that I wasn’t even going to be starting. It’s hard to run when you can’t feel the muscles in your legs or the soles of your feet.

Never mind the triathlon, as the numbness continued to spread and the fatigue arrived, I wondered if my running days were behind me for good.

Fast forward four years to 2009; three months after my diagnosis was finally confirmed, and now injecting Avonex every week, I completed my first half marathon, raising – with the help of my wife and a friend – over £3000 for the MS Society.

I won’t lie to you: it was hard work. I still have numbness and pins & needles across large parts of my body, I have lost strength across my arms and shoulders and some days I feel so tired I can hardly drag my body out of bed. On longer runs, I start to drag one of my legs, and sometimes lose sensation in parts of my face. Almost every step of every run seemed to take an enormous effort of willpower.

But you know what? I’ll know I’ve been beaten the day that I stop running or swimming or cycling…or even walking. MS affects me in lots of ways, but I won’t let it stop me pushing myself.

I don’t know about you, but when I have a bad day and I’m feeling tired, or if I have a run where every fibre of my body seems to be telling me to stop, it’s tempting to blame it all on my MS. But I’m pretty sure that everyone has good days and bad days, and at 37 years old, exercise is hardly likely to be getting any easier, is it? MS is a handy excuse for not doing stuff, and I’m determined not to use it.

With that in mind, to prove to myself that I’m not dead yet, I’m thinking about entering the 2011 Robin Hood half marathon in September. I might even raise some money for the MS Society whilst I’m at it. I’ll walk it, if I have to. Life does not stop with your diagnosis.

Before you die, live."

Tim Sorrell