Over the first few years following my diagnosis in 1973 I gained a little consolation from the words of that wise old medieval goliard. I had lost not only my health but a lucrative career in advertising, our home, and a life-long passion in sailing. But I soon discovered that I was not alone!

Altogether it took over ten painful years to come to terms with this damn awful condition. Finally, after 30 years I believe I have found the truth, or should I say Drs. Paolo Zamboni MD, R Galeotti, E Menegatti in Italy may have. After listening to many doctors and neurologists, Dr Zamboni's theory is the most logical argument I have heard so far and one day may lead to eliminating the worst symptoms for other MS patients.

During those intervening 30 years I have returned to sailing (after a fashion), and I have discovered - and re-discovered - real friendship. In the words of the oratorio "Hateful life mistreats and oppresses us, Then, as the sun, melts our woes". Not all my woes have entirely vanished however I get around using an electric wheelchair.

• We have seen the Tall Ships Race at Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
• taken a canal barge down the Avon canal,
• sailed my daughter and son-in-law's yacht, "Allegra",
• took the ferry across the Channel to Britanny and Jersey,
• flown to Alicante, Mallorca, Tenerife, Lanzarote and St Vincent in the Caribbean, and
• returbished of old Spanish cortijo in Andalusia in the shadow of the Sierra Nevadas.

Pamela and myself love opera regularly visited The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where my childhood friend William Morton played the flute in the orchestra before retiring. We also visited The Royal Albert Hall. Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi has exacted her toll but I bare my back to her villainy.

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Last edited April 2012. ©Terence Wilson MMIX