My name is Fiona, but when I was a teacher, the children knew me as Miss McGill!

From being a little girl, I had always had a dream to be a teacher. I left school, went to college, graduated, and started teaching. The world was my oyster! I loved it, but after only a few years of working with the kids in my dream job, I found one morning that I couldn’t do the buttons up properly on my shirt. My fingers were fumbling and felt tingly.

This was the beginning of my journey with MS.

I went to my church, and I stood up and told everyone my early fears, but that I wasn’t going to let this MS thing get in the way of my dreams. I had the most positive attitude and the love and support of those around me to help me.

A few years have gone by and I’m still that same woman! I’m still full of good humour and strong determination. But today, I live in high-support accommodation run by the MS Society. I can’t feed myself or shower myself, and I rely on MS nurses and carers to turn me in the middle of the night.

There are more than 20,000 people living with MS in Australia, and I am one of them. Teachers, nurses, husbands, wives. This disease isn’t selective.

Children’s literacy remains my passion and now I have a new one; raising funds to help Australians living with MS. Hopefully, we’ll find a cure one day. Gee ... I’d love to teach again.