365 Days That Count - Day 15 - Inspiration

daisyd (65)in #life • 9 years ago (edited)

My dad has Multiple Sclerosis and is my inspiration every day.

Having fought tirelessly and stubbornly for the last 18 years he's still able to walk short
distances with assistance and has retained his wit and sense of humour but there is no
arguing the fact that it has stolen a large part of his quality of life over the years. There is no cure for MS, much about the disease is still a total mystery. What causes it? How can you
prevent it? Is it genetic? The list goes on.

We read an article in the Cape Times a few weeks ago about a man call Ruben Donne who had sailed solo for 3 months from Belgium to Cape Town in a 6.5m boat to raise awareness and funds for MS research. Ruben's uncle died at a young age from MS related illnesses and his father was diagnosed 8 years ago. Dad and I were blown away and inspired by both his journey and tenacity.

I managed to find him on Facebook and we arranged to meet. We didn't have an agenda, we just wanted to connect to someone who understands what we go through every day and has the balls to try and do something about it in such an adventurous and positive way.

He joined us for a belated Christmas mum was throwing for my uncle who had been in Dubai over December - as Ruben was at sea till after New Year we felt it appropriate he come and pull a cracker with us all. He told us his story and we told him ours, we watched the incredible footage of his journey and discussed possible future projects we could support.