Symptoms appeared after the birth of her second child, which she initially shrugged off as postpartum pains

A mother of two living with multiple sclerosis (MS) has shared her health struggles in the hope it can encourage people to read books for this year’s MS Readathon campaign.

Primary school teacher Sarah Mather (37) from Rathangan, Co Kildare, was diagnosed with the neurological condition in 2022.

A lover of reading, she is calling on all children in Ireland to read as much as possible as part of fundraising efforts for the annual event throughout the month of November.

“It isn’t just an acronym or a diagnosis – it’s something that’s so real and it’s had such a huge impact on my life,” Ms Mather said.

“That’s why the MS Readathon is such a big deal to me.”

Within months of the birth of her son Tom – her second child – in March 2021, she began feeling the earliest symptoms of MS, which she put down to postpartum pains.

“About three months after I had him, I started to feel quite numb from my stomach,” she said, putting the sensation down to having had an emergency C-section during her delivery.

“I was trying Epsom salt baths, going to the beach, hoping that the seawater would help.”

A few weeks later, Ms Mather began feeling tingling in her arms, as well as “extreme” fatigue, both of which she attributed to a recent Covid vaccine.

The symptoms progressed in severity to the point where carrying out essential parenting tasks became increasingly difficult.

“Even my fine motor skills, like writing birthday cards or closing his nappies, I couldn’t really do it, and slurring words as well was another thing, and I still would do that today,” she said.

After requesting a referral to an eye and ear doctor, Ms Mather lost sight in her left eye. She was subsequently diagnosed with optic neuritis, a condition closely associated with MS.

“I just burst into tears, because finally somebody could kind of put a name on it, and it wasn’t in my own head,” she said.

Further nervous symptoms began to manifest, including a feeling of “bugs all over your body”, as Ms Mather described it, as well as the feeling of “fire” in her stomach area, which she initially thought was heated seating in her car.

The following May, she received the MS diagnosis.

“I looked so normal, and I just kept going. But I was in a lot of pain,” she said.

However, she refuses to allow the diagnosis to impact her quality of life, especially with her children.

“We go on holidays, we go to the park, we play board games, watch films. Everything is pretty much the same,” she said.

Now, Ms Mather is encouraging children all around Ireland to partake in the MS Readathon in aid of charity MS Ireland.

“There are no rules about what they can read. It could be a comic or an audiobook, not just a full novel,” she said.

“Reading has always been a big part of my life. Mam always made sure reading was never a chore but an adventure.”