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Hello and welcome to podcast number six. Number six already? We are flying through aren't

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we? Well, a few bits and pieces I want to talk about today. The most important one for

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me personally is this coming Saturday, finally the day for the MS charity walk for the MS

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charity. I've not mentioned it before, but this is something I really am looking forward

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to. Five kilometres around London. Naturally, there's no chance I'm walking five kilometres,

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but I'll have my wheelchair with me, the DeLorean. I've got brilliant assistants coming with

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me in terms of both my dad and my brother. So I'm well aware when I am struggling to

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walk, which will be most of the time, I have got the help there to be pushed as and when

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I'm needing to be. It's going to be nice to see some of the sites. We're going to be going

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all through embankment around. Genuinely, I really, really can't wait. Just do that

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little bit. As I said, I've had so much help, certainly at the start of finding out that

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MS was possible for me. They gave me a lot of help, a lot of advice, and I'll be honest

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with you, it's massively appreciated. I mean, this sort of charity stuff, charity walks

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and things, something I've never actually done before. But I think to give something

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back is absolutely what I want to do. As I say, I'm not afraid to admit it, I really

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am looking forward to it. Just be nice to do something. Do something. I know it's only

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a small amount, but we've raised a little bit of money. Not a huge amount, but not a

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tiny amount either, which again goes to the MS Society for them to put towards things

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like looking into new potential treatments and looking into why MS happens, how it happens,

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all that sort of stuff. So just that small amount that we can put in is there able to

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help everyone with this condition. Hopefully, hopefully one day they can find a way of dealing

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with it. I'm not a scientist at all. I'm just hopeful that at some point in the future,

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there can be more done to help people that have MS. I'm not going to use the term sufferers

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because me personally, I don't want to be known as a sufferer. I'm going to use the

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term fighter because yeah, we have this condition. Yeah, it's absolutely horrible and quite honestly,

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it makes life difficult. But you know what? We wake up every day, pains in places people

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wouldn't realise. And yeah, there's days where again, I wake up, I can't speak for myself

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here, but I'll wake up and I'm feeling absolutely awful. But you know what? I will put myself

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out there and I will continue to go, I will fight through all the pains, the horrible

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feelings, the aches, the tiredness and I will continue going because without continuing

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to go, it's quite scary actually where I'd be. So for me personally, I refer to myself

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as a fighter and I personally, anyone that's suffering from MS or any kind of condition

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that people don't actually realise what you're going through, you're a fighter. One way or

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another, you are a fighter. Even on your worst day, the fact that you've woken yourself up

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shows that you're fighting. Keep doing so because this condition, again, I go back to

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talking to myself, this condition will never define me. It will never define who I am.

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And I think as a community, and I will say I'm on lots of different social medias now,

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and the MS community is a really positive place, I'll be honest with you. It's ridiculous

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how good and how positive people are. Even on their worst day, if you post up somewhere

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about how much you're struggling, there's always, always numerous people that are prepared

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to jump in and say to you, keep going, keep your chin up, you can get through this, you

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can do this. As a community, we genuinely, I don't want to use the word lucky, but we

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are a community that supports each other, we're a community that actually cares, we're

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a community that is always there for one another. And I know I've only been in this community

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for a tiny amount of time, a really small amount of time. But actually, I can honestly

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say, each and every person that I've had communication with, you're fantastic. Simple as that, you're

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fantastic. Because no matter what any of us are going through, we always seem to be there

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to support each other. And that's incredible. That is genuinely incredible. And each and

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every one of us should be proud. Genuinely believe that. Now, what I have done, and I

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don't believe I've read this on a previous podcast, a very short time ago, literally

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a few days ago, I actually wrote a poem to my MS. And I'd like to share that poem with

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you, if I can. And trust me when I tell you, I really am not a poet. I mean, this is the

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sort of thing that I don't really do. As I say, this whole thing podcasting, social

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media, poetry now, it's all incredibly new to me. It's something I'd never really thought

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I would ever do. But you know what? It's helping massively. It really is helping. And it sort

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of clears my brain a bit. But let me share this poem with you. And again, I'm hoping

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in a way, this poem maybe can make people think for themselves a little bit, a little

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bit positively about the fight they're going through. Okay. MS. So you decided to pick

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me. Now we get this life together. First it was the numphi, then the legs. Then you try

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to make friends with a hug. I've had better hugs chucking drunks out of the pub. You make

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me stumble. You make me fall. You make me forget. You took a hobby from me. Well guess

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what? I replaced that with three. I do the garden. I'm going back to guitar. I even now

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do the pod. So understand this, MS. Throw whatever you want my way. Some days you'll

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get your way. But remember this, my friend. This warrior will never quit. The fire inside

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still burns and this life is mine. This warrior will never quit. I just thought I'd like to

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share that with you all. As I say, I'm not a poet. It's just something. I was sat there

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and all of a sudden these thoughts went through my brain and I thought, do you know what?

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I actually want to sit down and put these on paper. I'm really pleased I did. Because

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okay, it might not be the best poem in the world, but what it is, it's my thoughts. It's

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my way of saying to the MS, well again, as it says in the poem, throw what you want my

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way. Because I am going to keep going. I am going to keep fighting. And me personally,

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I am never ever going to give in. So all I can do now is put my chin in the air, pin

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my shoulders back and be proud as a person that I am. And to everyone else out there

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that is going through similar, you can do this. You really can do it. Yes, there's going

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to be bad, really, really bad days. But the bad days do not last. You absolutely can be

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positive. And me personally, that's how I intend to continue on. You know, even talking

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to you all now, I'm sat here and I've got, I've taken my medicated painkillers that I've

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been given. I'm sat here, I've got pains that are not particularly nice. Brain fog is a

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big issue. Literally, I'll put my phone down and within 20 seconds of me turning round,

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I've forgot where I put my phone. It's a little bit frustrating. But do you know what? That's

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fine. If that's what it wants to do, that's fine. Because ultimately, again, as it says

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in there, this life is mine. It doesn't belong to the MS, it belongs to me. And I'll find

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a way to carry on, to keep smiling, to keep being happy. Now, what I will say is I've

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actually joined TikTok, which I actually said I was never going to do. But I was given some

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advice from a friend. And yeah, I'm quite pleased I did. I mean, if you wanted to come

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over and see me on TikTok, my name on there is Mike's underscore MS underscore journey,

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the same as it is on Instagram, and the same as it is on YouTube. Please, by all means,

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come over, add me on there. I do try to be as easy to talk to as possible on there. If

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you comment on anything or whatever else, you will get a reply. Because again, it doesn't

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hurt. It doesn't hurt for me to say hello. And I'd like to say hello. Because everyone

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listening to me doing my podcast, actually, you're doing me a favor by giving me people

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to talk to, giving me ways of getting my story out there in the hope that my story can encourage

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anyone else to put their story out. Because again, for me personally, talking about all

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this stuff is incredibly helpful. Now I will say one of the things we did over the weekend,

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Lisa she says to me, she says, let's try one of these challenges. Okay, not really my sort

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of thing. But okay, we'll have a laugh. So she suggested this challenge called the sprite

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challenge. And what you had to do was drink a bottle of sprite without burping. Sounds

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a bit silly. But yeah, we had a go. And I'll be honest with you, it was actually quite

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good fun. And I've put the video up on my YouTube. It's also on my TikTok. So by all

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means come and have a watch. It is just for a bit of fun. And yeah, it was fun. I thoroughly

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enjoyed it. So yeah, please come and have a look and see that I'm not just this this

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fella that talks about this stuff. I'm actually quite a fun person. Because I am. I would

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always try and be fun and entertaining. So I think that's probably about it for today.

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It's been a bit of a ramble. But yeah, hopefully, hopefully you enjoy what you're listening

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to. And I'd like to think I'm going to maybe see you or talk to you all again soon on one

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of the social media accounts. Well, you have a great day. And I will speak to you again

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soon. Bye bye.