Skip to main content
19 June 2017

Taking on a triathlon to support my sister and OMS

Big sister Lucy Jopson challenged herself by competing in her first ever triathlon to show her support for her younger sister Emma, who was diagnosed with MS in April 2015.

On this page

On the 22nd of July 2017, Lucy Jopson competed in her first ever triathlon to show her support for her younger sister Emma, who was diagnosed with MS in 2015 and is following the OMS 7-Step Recovery Program.

Lucy participated in the popular yet challenging Castle Howard Triathlon in York, raising just under £500.00 and valuable awareness for Overcoming MS.

Emma's story

Emma was diagnosed with MS at the age of 22 after experiencing deteriorating vision as well as numbness and pins and needles from the waist down.

As she’d had some previous issues with one of her corneas, Emma assumed that was the cause of her vision problems.

She also chalked up the numbness and tingling to a bad back from starting an office job where she spent long periods sitting at a desk. At the same time her mood and enthusiasm began to drop and she was always tired.

Towards the end of 2014, Lucy and the rest of the family persuaded Emma to seek medical assistance for her symptoms. She tried a new doctor, who was the first to mention that she may have MS.

After a few months anxiously waiting for test results, Emma received the official diagnosis around about her 22nd birthday.

Lucy describes Emma as being “distraught” with the diagnosis and was worried to tell her work in case they weren’t supportive.

Initially Emma didn’t receive much support from her medical team, “At first there were no real options pointed out, just to wait and see what happened and come back if you think you may be having another relapse.”

Finding OMS

Lucy began researching MS and soon came across George Jelinek and the OMS Recovery Program.

Lucy ordered Emma and some of the OMS books and together, they quickly realized the benefits of adopting the program.

“We read accounts of people that had been diagnosed and after practicing the diet changes and mindfulness they saw improvements,” Lucy explains.

Emma has now been on the program for two years and attended the Wokefield Park OMS Event in July 2016.

“Emma likes the positivity and sense of community OMS provides. She went to a retreat run by OMS and learnt lots. It helped her to overcome her fear a little. Meeting other people with MS gave her assurance that people can remain positive with support.”

Emma has had a few relapses since  being diagnosed and has taken Lemtrada in the hope that it will help her.

Lucy explains that the staff at the MS clinic and neurology ward were impressed that Emma is on the OMS program and that she was even asked to talked to some trainee doctors about it.