"I wanted to turn a negative into a positive"

Growing up on the Isle of Skye, I was very lucky to be surrounded by all sorts of music. Mum was a music teacher and Dad was a musician. We had the Fèis movement, which teaches youngsters traditional Scottish music and provides great opportunities to perform. 

At High School I learnt guitar and started experimenting with electronic music, production software, and synths. I was heavily influenced by DJ and producer Mylo, who’s also from Skye. When I was a boy I played in a brass band with him!

Enjoying success

Seventeen years ago, three school friends and I started the band Niteworks. We produced a fusion of traditional Gaelic music and electronica. I played keyboards. We moved to Glasgow and have been fortunate to play many fantastic shows and festivals over the years as well as release three albums.

The band is actually coming to an end later this year as we all have more responsibilities now than when we started.

First symptoms

I woke up one morning in December 2019 (a year that Niteworks played live a lot, including a sold-out show at Glasgow’s iconic Barrowland Ballroom) with minor pins and needles in my right hand. I assumed it was a dead arm or something and went about my normal day. The following morning the pins and needles had spread up my arm and down my right-hand side.

I saw my GP, who referred me to a neurologist, but the next day I had pins and needles from my chest down. I couldn’t walk too well or really use my hands. I went to A&E but they couldn’t do much and then it was a bit of a waiting game, just dealing with my symptoms, until I was diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS in July 2020. I was 31.

Read more about the types of MS

It was a worrying time because MS was a complete unknown to me. I read the pamphlets I’d been given, and did some reading online, and kept being hit with all sorts of negative prospects.

All these thoughts were going through my head, including that I might not be able to perform anymore. But once I stopped panicking, I came to terms with my diagnosis. I realised it was still possible to play music. And I felt it was important to carry on and not let the condition define me. I wanted to turn a negative into a positive.

Making positive changes

I made changes to my general health. I became more proactive about exercising, doing gym work to get my strength up. I started jogging and realised I could still run so set myself a goal of doing a marathon. I ran the Berlin Marathon in 2022, with my Niteworks band mates, to raise funds for the MS Society.

I also tried to be more proactive in general. Pursuing another genre of music was something I’d wanted to do for a long time, but I hadn’t got around to it. When I got the diagnosis I decided I wasn’t going to just hang around and wait for things to happen. I formed an electro-pop group called LUSA. It’s named after a beautiful place on Skye that holds happy memories from my childhood.

Learning to adapt

My main symptoms are still numbness and pins and needles in my hands, and weakness in my right arm. I can’t play the pipes anymore, which was difficult to come to terms with. And I can’t play anything too complex on the keyboards.

But I’ve learnt to adapt and find new ways to be creative. I’m lucky my symptoms aren’t too severe at the moment and I can still do a lot of things.

Read more about MS symptoms and signs

A lot of electronic music is computer-based. In LUSA, I programme parts and compose a lot of the tracks through computer software. We’ve just released our first album, The Colour of Space. The general theme of the album is transition and my diagnosis certainly comes into that.

One song in particular, Coloured In, talks about every individual having their own story – we are all coloured in in different ways.

Turn a negative into a positive

Having something creative to focus on means I can put my symptoms to the back of my mind and almost forget about my MS. I think working my brain helps with my cognitive abilities too, and creating something positive definitely benefits my mental wellbeing.

If anyone reading this is feeling panicked after being diagnosed, please know that those feelings will settle down. And when they do, if you can, I would suggest trying to turn your diagnosis into something positive.

If there’s something you’ve been putting off, no matter how big or small, try to use your diagnosis as an incentive to finally do it. You may have to adapt the way you reach that goal, but MS doesn’t have to stop you realising your dreams.

• Photos of Innes and LUSA by Euan Robertson