My wife has had MS for about 15 years now. For the first few years she managed quite well. She had problems walking, but a walking stick was all she needed. In the house she puts her hands on the furniture to steady herself. She calls it ‘just her way of dusting!’

Over the past couple of years I have seen her walking get slowly worse. It is terrible to watch her struggle. Sometimes when we were walking to the shops, she had to sit down half way there. She said, that her legs just stop. I must admit I didn’t really understand it. I tried, but I couldn’t imagine not being able to just put one foot in front of the other. I don’t mean to sound cruel. I would watch her grab hold of things to help her not fall over.

She started not wanting to go out as much. Then she didn’t want to go out at all, unless we took the car. I tried to tell her the exercise would do her good, but she said it didn’t work like that.

We started to argue more……….

Then I suppose I started listening properly to what she was saying. She wasn’t just getting lazier. She really couldn’t walk like she used to. She said her legs felt a cross between concrete and jelly. That made no sense to me but I know it would be hard to walk if your legs felt like that.

I wanted to help her. What she missed the most was going to the local shops, and going round to her sister’s house. We were never blessed with children but we have two young nephews whom she adores and she just loves spending time with them.

She needed to be independently mobile again. The solution was staring us in the face. A mobility scooter.

I did some research. She needed the seat to swivel, to help her get in and out of the scooter. The controls weren’t too important as her hands were fine. Her favourite colour is red, and I knew she would love a scooter in red. (I wasn’t complaining at this either as my football team wears red!) I found out that you can add a walking stick holder to the back of the scooter and this sounded ideal. My essentials list was not very long, so I had plenty of scooters to choose from.

She knew what I was planning on buying for her. But when it arrived she was totally stunned and amazed. She was pleased with how easy it was to drive. Most importantly though, she was delighted at how much more confident she felt going outside. She was equally delighted that she was not completely exhausted when she got back to the house. MS ‘fatigue’ can be totally debilitating, and using the scooter minimised amount of time she spent totally exhausted.

I am so glad I finally started to understand my wife’s condition, and could do something practical to help. It is an added bonus that I have got back some points in being a good husband, and my wife is so much happier.

Author: Jonathan