MSWA Bulletin Magazine Autumn 17

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THAT’S LIFE WITH NARELLE NARELLE TAYLOR These are days of miracle and wonder. The Australian of the Year won the award for his work in the field of stem cell research. The award ceremony caught my attention and I heard Professor Alan McKay-Sim, the winner, say that he will continue his work in the stem cell field because it’s so important to people who are disabled and people who are diseased. I thought I’m both! - disabled and also diseased. I will offer myself for work in a trial he conducts. I’m a prime candidate. I might be in the group that doesn’t get the placebo and won’t mind at all being of assistance when he’s in contention for the next award. It’s what I’ve been hoping for the past twenty years - a cure, at long last. Maybe, using stem cells, I won’t require a couple of decades of therapeutic physiotherapy to return me to my pre-MS condition. I went to a show this month at the Fringe Festival. I admired the superlative acrobatics and the results of hours of practise by the stars of the show. I wondered briefly what age bracket the acrobats are in. I imagined how I’d love to have their job and how good I’d look in the Lycra and sequined costume I’d be wearing when the stem cell thing gets under way and I am amazingly restored to Fringe Festival nick. I’ll have to do something about the old age thing though. I won’t worry about that until then because I need the brain space now to be able to think of everything I’m currently thinking about. I don’t worry, it’s so boring. I am much happier thinking about ‘alternative facts’ and how the world could be a Nirvana where I would be blissed out. My mother’s older sister, Aunty Audrey, celebrated her ninetyninth birthday last month with grace and style. My father, last year, broke the record for the 90 years, 200 metres freestyle swimming event, so it appears that I have genes for longevity from both sides of my family. Consequently, I’ve decided that I’d really like a cure for my MS since it looks like I’ll be around for longer than most. The fellow residents here at my Aged Care Facility are older than me and I can just tell they’re not interested in a career in the Fringe Festival. A lot of them spend their whole day trying to find a way out so they can go home. I think that is very sad for them. It’s as if they hadn’t decided to leave their home in the first instance and then, hadn’t decided to come here. For me, I miss so many things about home but I really appreciate all the caring that this place provides. I just couldn’t manage without help. I’m so glad moving here was a decision that I made. It wasn’t easy I’ll admit, but so many residents seem to think they’re living here because their family ‘turned’ on them. They spend years in that frame of mind, then dementia rears its ugly head and they forget what they wanted to get out of the place for anyway. One thing my sojourn here has taught me is that my daughters are very considerate of me and that if they end up needing care themselves, they should make arrangements while they’re still able. I noticed a falling off in the number of people we called friends when I was first diagnosed but moving into this place really thinned them out. I was widowed and profoundly ‘MS-ing’. Not many so-called friends seemed keen to act as a bridge over troubled waters. So I’ll just have to be cured and then I’ll be well and fit enough to throw rocks on their roofs. Yay! It won’t be too much longer, either, before they’re looking for care for themselves…in a place like this. 20 | MSWA BULLETIN AUTUMN 2017
THE FINE ART OF A WONDERFUL RELATIONSHIP DR ANDREW E ONG We often try to live our lives backwards. For instance, when we are of working age we go about the business of acquiring more money and material possessions in order to do whatever we want so that we will become happier. The best way to make this desire, often obsession really, work however is the other way around. First we must go through the process of finding out who we really are — our authentic selves. Then we can do what we really want to do which is to build a loving relationship. Happiness, wealth, peace of mind and money will surely follow and then you can reap the benefits. But these things don’t just come easily. Oh no! To make this loving relationship work first you must create it. Little things don’t mean a lot, they mean everything. Never take each other for granted, continue to hold hands, and each day find the time to say “I love you”. You must learn to compromise and forgive each other’s faults, especially your own. Share your joys and sorrows, and especially share a common goal, objectives, and most of all, develop a set of core values to share. Regularly shower words of appreciation on each other, mean them, and demonstrate genuine gratitude in thoughtful ways. Give each other the capacity to grow and learn in a warm and caring atmosphere. For it is the common search for all that is good and wonderful in this world, and especially in each other, which will sustain your relationship. Who else can you call “honey” every day? For in the end it is not being married to the most beautiful and right person, but being the most beautiful and right person yourself. Only then can you make that other person the most beautiful and the best person there is in a loving relationship. WHY? On the street I saw her, in a thin and tattered dress. Cold and shivering, hungry and her hair in a mess. In anger I yelled silently, “Why does God allow this? Why doesn’t He do something?” He said nothing for a time. Then one night out of the blue, blessing me with wisdom, a voice said, “I did! I made you!” MSWA MASSAGE COMES TO GERALDTON! EMILY-JANE WAR AND RHIANNE ELLIOTT It’s been long awaited but we are very excited to announce we have finally introduced a massage therapist to our small but growing MSWA team in Geraldton and the Midwest region! Nicola Weir is a local lady, who completed her Certificate 4 in Massage Therapy at the Geraldton TAFE in 2011. She has worked in mixed settings in the past, so is a great asset to our team of two physiotherapists providing services to our local Members in Geraldton. Massage will cost financial Members only $4 per half hour session or $8 for an hour. Nicola is working on Mondays from 9am – 12pm and this MSWA subsidised service is available to all financial Members. Bookings are essential. Please contact us on 0439 503 296 or email Rhianne.Elliott@mswa.org.au or Emily-jayne.warr@mswa.org.au to organise your appointment. MSWA BULLETIN AUTUMN 2017 | 21
Page 1 and 2: BULLETIN THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF M
Page 3 and 4: Letter from the Editor DR GREG BROT
Page 5 and 6: A message from the General Manager
Page 7 and 8: From MS Research Australia (MSWA co
Page 9 and 10: MSWA ENROLS ITS 200TH NDIS CLIENT!
Page 11 and 12: PEER SUPPORT GROUPS HAVE RETURNED F
Page 13 and 14: If this all sounds too familiar and
Page 15 and 16: My life has been a series of life c
Page 17 and 18: High-quality studies on diet and MS
Page 19: WEIRD SISTERS ROS HARMAN “Weird s
Page 23 and 24: MSWA Annual Member Christmas Party.
Page 25 and 26: The meeting area is huge! It will s
Page 27 and 28: BUSSELTON OUTREACH NEWS BUSSELTON O

MSWA Bulletin Magazine Autumn 17

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