"I wanted to help Mum and other people with MS"
Dr Clara Doran was diagnosed with MS in 2014, not long after her son Michael was born. As the youngster learnt more about his mum’s condition, he realised he wanted to do something to help her and other people living with MS.
Here, mum and son, now aged 12, describe how a family walk led to a space-themed fundraising idea with a £10,000 target.
Clara, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your MS journey so far?
Clara: I have relapsing remitting MS and my main symptoms are pain (particularly in my legs and hips), numbness in both legs, and fatigue. I worked as a GP in Edinburgh for more than 20 years before changing careers in my early 40s to focus on brain health. Since then, I’ve written a memoir and a book on how to care for your brain. I also give talks on topics linked to brain health, and I run my own supplements company.
I think it was a combination of Mum’s and Dad’s ideas to raise money for MS Society Scotland.
To help support people living with MS, Michael has written a book about space. How did that come about?
Michael: This is actually the fourth book I’ve written, and each one has been for a different charity. This book is called Things I Taught My Parents About Space 3. During the Covid-19 lockdown, when I was six years old, I started watching a YouTube channel called Kids Learning Tube, which had lots of videos about space for younger kids.
Every day during lockdown we’d go for a walk as a family. We made up quizzes on the walks, and I used to win because Mum and Dad didn’t know the answers to my questions about space!
Clara: Due to my MS, I struggled to remember all the different conversations we had so I suggested we should write everything down and capture it, because Michael had learnt so much.
Michael: I’d seen other people doing things for charity during the pandemic and I said I should do something too. My Dad said: ‘Well, you can make a book with your space facts!’
After writing two books about space and one about the Romans, what made you dedicate your latest book, Things I Taught My Parents About Space 3, to raising funds for the MS Society?
Michael: I think it was a combination of Mum’s and Dad’s ideas to raise money for MS Society Scotland this time. And I wanted to help Mum and other people with MS because of what they go through every day. The money we raise will help the one in 300 people in Scotland that have this chronic disease – that’s a lot of people.
Clara: Over the last few years, things have got a bit trickier for me regarding my MS, and Michael has been more involved in some of these conversations, whereas he wouldn’t have been when he was younger. We wanted to do something closer to home this time. It felt like the natural choice to donate the money to MS Society Scotland.
Some of the topics are black holes, space time, and rogue planets.
Why did you choose a fundraising target of £10,000?
Clara: Michael has raised almost £15,000 for three different charities since he started writing these books more than six years ago. His most recent book raised more than £8,000 for an Alzheimer’s day centre in Ireland that his Grandad used to visit. We launched the latest book in Edinburgh, where we live and work, and where Michael goes to school. We’ve already had lots of offers of support from people we know here. But Scotland has one of the highest rates of MS in the world, so we hope plenty of other people will be interested in buying the book too. We’re hopeful we’ll raise lots of money this time, so we’ve set ourselves our biggest target yet.
Read about fundraising for the MS Society
What can people expect from Things I Taught My Parents About Space 3?
Michael: This book is more complex than the first ones. There are 13 different topics. For each one we’ve looked into what we thought we knew, what we’ve learned in the last few years, and, most importantly when it comes to space, what we still don’t have answers to. Some of the topics are black holes, space time, gravity, rogue planets, and the business of space!
Clara: I’m so proud of Michael. There are lots of things a 12-year-old boy could be doing, and the fact that he wants to spend his time researching and putting this book together to raise money and awareness of MS is incredible.
You can order Things I Taught My Parents About Space 3 from the family’s website, where there’s also more information about Michael’s fundraising journey.
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About us
We’re the MS Society – a community of people living with MS, scientists, campaigners, volunteers and fundraisers.
We understand what life’s like with MS, and we support each other through the highs, lows and everything in between.
And we’re driving research into more – and better – treatments. For everyone.
Together, we are strong enough to stop MS.
