Living life with multiple sclerosis

Helen McDougall from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, was diagnosed with MS 10 years ago.

However, she believes she might have had symptoms since the 1960s. Ms McDougall's cousin Dan O'Brien also has the condition.

Her ancestors were the McDougalls, who hailed from Tobermory.

---

In 1994 I started to have numbness in my legs. I'd walk and feel like I was going to fall, and that type of thing.

Helen Dougall said the diagnosis came as a relief

So I went to talk to my doctor and they found a brain tumour, which was removed.

But the numbness in my legs came back and then the fatigue started and I never recovered from that.

It was a relief to be diagnosed with MS because then I knew there was something I could do to address the illness - because I knew there was something wrong.

The idea of a Scottish link to this disease is interesting.

My father is 90 and when I spoke with him about meeting for this programme, [Elizabeth Quigley's documentary Scotland's Hidden Epidemic: The truth about MS] he doesn't recall any history of MS on either side of my family, but who knows?