James is a father, husband, son, brother, uncle, chef, and very proud small-business owner (One Man One Pan – his greatest passion). James is also a Multiple Sclerosis fighter. The thing about James is that many would not even be aware of his diagnosis because he brings to each of his relationships an abundance of warmth, compassion, humour, and heart!
Having MS, he silently faces each day with a fight to live the best life possible and at first glance, it is most likely unnoticeable, yet the weight of this continues to challenge his identity. There’s no cure for MS and constant unpredictability. Each day brings fear of a new relapse and permanent damage and disability caused – a very unknown future.
Despite all this, James really is a fighter, he’s faced many obstacles to reach this point. In 2002, James first started having MS symptoms. Any testing underway at that time was forced to stop because, in 2003, he was involved in a major motor vehicle accident. With that, we welcomed multiple emergency surgeries, aortic stent insertion, a coma and intensive care for 2 weeks. Sadly, this 2-week period was not the end. What remained was significant physical injuries, resulting in years in hospital and rehab and ongoing surgeries to rebuild him over a decade. 15 years later, James was the best he could be, and we are all so proud of his unwavering strength and determination.
In 2017 when things finally settled and James got to a better place, the investigation into MS restarted as further neurological impacts became visible and later a formal MS diagnosis followed. With this diagnosis, treatment to manage MS symptoms began but was short-lived as we discovered he had cancer. With a diagnosis of cancer, all treatment had to be stopped. However, he has since overcome two episodes of renal cancer in 2019 and 2020. Not one to complain or seek sympathy, this is all a testament to his strength and inspiring nature. Now there is just one more hurdle to go – stopping MS in its tracks!
