Mother-of-two, Emma Tinkler, now 48, from Sydney, first experienced blurred vision when she returned from her honeymoon. She also noticed her handwriting was messy and a toe on her right foot was numb. Her GP checked her eyes and said the best-case scenario would be something wrong with her vision or, worst-case scenario, multiple sclerosis.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today “After eye tests and later an MRI, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis,” Emma tells 7Life. Emma and her husband had been planning to start a family and, thankfully for them, her symptoms abated and Emma was able to give birth to two healthy daughters — Elodie, now 13 and Aggie, now 10. “I was lucky enough to not need medication during the birth of my two girls,” Emma says.
“Now I rely on eight pills a day to be functioning only some of the time.” Emma soon started working closely with MS Australia and volunteering for MS research. She became an ambassador for the organisation and raised more than $24,000.
Then, in 2019, her left leg started to feel heavy and gradually her left arm stopped swinging while she walked. “I thought it was my MS having a flare-up,” Emma says. “But, after an MRI, there was no change to my brain scan.
“I slowly went downhill and I was diagnosed with a disorder called functional neurological disorder. “The only treatment for this is physio and psychology as there is no medication.” Emma gradually came to rely at times on a walking stick .
