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Barbara’s Story: “Because of Revive, I feel like a Mum again.”

November 3, 2026

Barbara has lived with Multiple Sclerosis for 20 years. She was diagnosed when her son was just four weeks old, after doctors found a lesion on her brain. For the next 16 years she managed her MS, walking with a stick. Then, four years ago, everything changed.

I saw a doctor on the Wednesday and by the Friday I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t talk. I was looking at my wee girl, who’d only just turned five, and I couldn’t hold her, couldn’t help her get dressed, couldn’t do her hair. I just thought, that’s it, that’s going to be my life.

Barbara was left almost totally paralysed. But with her children at home, she refused to give up. She set herself one big goal: to walk again, drive again and take her daughter to school. She cried every day in hospital, but every day she told herself she could do it, and kept fighting for her kids.

When Barbara first came to Revive MS Support, she arrived in a wheelchair. Through one-to-one physiotherapy sessions and our specialist exercise classes led by physiotherapists, she found a team who saw her as a person, not a disability.

At Revive, they don’t look at you in a wheelchair, they just look at you as a person. The following week I’ll come into class and they’ll say, “I was thinking about you Barbara, what about trying this?” They must see so many people, and they still think of everyone as individuals. That helped a lot for my movement.

Week by week, her physiotherapy helped Barbara rebuild her movement and balance. She went from the wheelchair to a Zimmer frame, then to a crutch, and every small step counted: making it from the car to the fence, then from the car to her front door. Even hanging the washing out on a sunny day became a milestone worth celebrating.

I never thought I could walk again, or use my right hand again. I couldn’t lift my arm, I couldn’t write. Now I can do my daughter’s hair, I can write, and I can take her to school and meet her teachers, all on my own. I feel like I’m a mum again.

Every week, hundreds of people like Barbara rely on Revive MS Support for physical, emotional, financial and social support, all made possible by donations from people like you.

In Barbara’s own words: “If you can sponsor anyone, sponsor Revive.”

Find out more about the support we offer for those with MS and donate today to make a life-changing difference to countless people like Barbara with MS.