Annette Nugent, 50, and her daughter Amy, 28, live in Brisbane, QLD.

Like any proud mum, Annette has watched Amy grow from her little girl into a beautiful young woman: getting engaged, having a baby, and finishing off her Dietetics and Nutrition degree.

From the outside, these are two beautiful, healthy women enjoying life – but, as is so often the case, there is more to this picture.

Amy and Annette Nugent on holiday in Canada.

Amy and Annette share more than just a mother and daughter bond: they both were diagnosed with the disease Multiple Sclerosis at a shockingly young age. Annette showed symptoms for almost ten years prior to her eventual diagnosis at the age of 31; whilst thanks to modern medicine, Amy was diagnosed immediately age 21.

It was a devastating blow for both mother and daughter. For Annette, she has to watch her child suffer through what she has struggled with for almost three decades; whilst Amy is all cruelly aware of the hard times that lie ahead.

We spoke to Amy and Annette about what it's like to live with MS, and how it affected their relationship sharing the diagnosis.

Amy and Annette Nugent.

ANNETTE NUGENT, 50.

I was twenty-two with two young children when I was diagnosed.

My son, Ben was two years old, and my daughter Amy only three months old.

 I remember we

 had gone for a holiday at Tugan on the Gold Coast in November.

My first feelings were ones like vertigo, feeling dizzy, weak and sickly.

I went to the shopping centre, was backing the car out and scraped the car next to mine.

The owner returned, a muscly, fit looking man; and we exchanged details.

I took them home to my husband who informed me that I had run into a well-known footy star’s car!

Next few days I was still feeling the same so I went to the doctor, and he suggested that I might be pregnant.

I nearly died but had the test and all was negative.

 The doctor s

uggested that I just had a virus...which I thought was much better than pregnancy. 

I suffered from similar symptoms at different times over the next few years.

MS is often explained as a virus, affecting my ears and balance.

I remember visiting the doctor with a bucket in hand as I couldn’t stop vomiting and felt like I was seasick and my balance was like I was walking on an unsteady boat.

One episode resulting in numbness on one side of my body, arm and leg.

This was diagnosed as a result of many stressful situations. 

One night in 1995, for example, I woke with pain in my back and a feeling of pins and needles in my legs and feet. By this time, I had three small children.

We got the neighbour over to look after the children as it was late at night and my husband drove me to the hospital’s emergency centre.

They examined me and took x-rays.

They immediately referred me onto a specialist.

Annette with Amy as a child, not long after she was diagnosed with MS.

He sent me for a MRI the next day.

Unfortunately, on the day of my appointment I had organised my youngest daughter’s fifth birthday party at McDonalds.

I got my sister to step in for me. 

I visited the neurologist office and he presented me with the news that I had quite a few ‘shadows’ on my brain.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

I fell in a heap, physically and mentally.

Having children is a great cure of self-pity.

I carried on as normally as I could do. 

Over the years I have physically and mentally had many ups and downs.

I did have a leg brace for a few years and continued to work as a Primary School Teacher only cutting down to four days a week last year.

I thought being told that I had MS all those nearly 20 years ago was the worst thing that could happen but the worst thing was when my daughter experienced symptoms.

She described them to me and all I could think was ‘I can cope with having MS, but I don’t know how I will cope with my daughter having to experience it as well.’

Amy and I have been a support for each other.

We often laugh about our experiences and how we overcome some of the difficulties.

I believe Amy has avoided some of the fear factors as she has had first hand experience of living with someone who has the disease.

We are so fortunate to have great family, friends, memories and lives.

AMY NUGENT, 27.

I was diagnosed with MS 7 years ago when I was 21.

Looking back before my diagnosis I did experience some tingling and numbness in my legs and feet, but I ignored as it seemed to come and go. I couldn’t explain it and it did not seem to affect me too much so being young and naïve I didn’t bother to go to the doctor and pretty much just ignored it.

The symptoms seemed to progress in the following months.

I had pain in my arm and was losing co-ordination and I couldn’t understand why. At the time I was studying Podiatry at University and part of my Prac work involved simple treatment and strapping of patients.

Amy, her fiance Todd, and their son Jack.

As my co-ordination faded I kept making simple mistakes, silly things like accidentally cutting my hands when using scissors.

It was very frustrating. 

I finally did see my GP and over the next three weeks my symptoms started to worsen. The pain in my arm got much worse (I later found out this was nerve pain), and I gradually became numb from fingers up to my neck, the back of my scalp and even onto my face.

I started to get dizzy and lost a lot of co-ordination/motor control. At one point I could not write, take money from my purse or straighten my hair with my right hand.

My GP directed me to emergency. My Mother (who also has MS) came with me and after some further testing I had an MRI.

From this MRI I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and shown that I had numerous lesions on my brain and spinal cord.

Firstly, I went into complete shock. I sat in silence with Mum while they explained everything to me before I broke down. Looking at the MRI of my brain was absolutely heartbreaking. It was like my body had betrayed me, I was still young and fit, or so I thought. Mum was absolutely amazing. She was so heartbroken for both of us yet so, so strong for me on that day.

I have gone on to experience some flair up/attacks and do get some reoccurring symptoms.

These include speech impairment, chronic fatigue, vertigo and numbness, vision impairment, weakness and loss of motor control in my legs.

Some of these symptoms do come and go, however some stay.

Annette, Amy, and Amy's baby son Jack.

MS affects every individual differently and it was the unknown that scared me.

When I was first diagnosed there were a lot of things I did not think I would be able to do. I was worried how it would affect my day to day life and if I would need help being mobile and just getting around. I was worried about how long my body would be able to cope with working and whether I could ever have a fulltime career.

I was worried about my social life and if I would still be able to dance and drink and go to parties and music festivals my friends, and the biggest one - I worried if I would be able to physically handle being pregnant and having children.

My Mother was, and continues to be, incredible through my diagnosis and throughout my journey with MS.

She was also diagnosed with MS in her early 20’s and we share our experiences with each other. We try to make light of and sometimes have a laugh to get us through the sticky parts.

She has worked full time as a primary school teacher with three children of her own through her journey. She is an absolutely incredible role model, the strongest woman that I have ever known and has certainly played such an important part of helping me through my journey.

I decided that although there will be ups and downs that I need to continue living my life and still try to do as many of the things I love as possible.

I decided that I did need to redirect my career. It was a very hard decision as I had completed nearly three years of my degree but realised that work with fine motor skills was just not something I was physically able to do in the long-term. I am now studying in my final year of a Dietetics and Nutrition degree, something I also have a great passion for. It also does not involve the physical aspects I struggled with in my previous degree and I am really enjoying it.

My greatest achievement came last year when my fiancé and I were blessed with the birth of our son Jack.

He has been such a great little guy! I am SO lucky to have him and my amazingly supportive fiancé Todd.

I am so fortunate to have so much support along the way. From my diagnosis, my friends and family have helped to try and make each step easier for me to get through. At times it has been hard for me to talk about having MS.

Although I don’t hide it, it is not something that I usually talk about unless I am very close with the person. I don’t want to be defined by it, especially when there are people who have much bigger hardships than me. 

There is so much uncertainty with MS, so we really think we do a great job to try and have a laugh and make light of the situation however best we can.

Mum has straightened my hair when my arm was bothering me, we drive each other if the other isn't feeling up to it etc. Mum is definitely my go-to person for when I need a good ol' chat and when I need reassurance (and sometimes I have done the same for her).

Annette and Jack.

Currently there is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis.

I have tried a few different types of treatments, in the hope of preventing further attacks and disease progression.  In recent years there have been major developments into the understanding and treatment of MS, with the hope that a cure is in the not too distant future.

My fiancé and I are about to participate in the upcoming Brissie to Bay MS Bike Ride to help raise money for research and better outcomes for people living with MS. Hopefully our contribution can raise some awareness and vital funds.

Amy and her fiance are riding in the MS Brissie To The Bay Bike Ride on the 19th of June to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis awareness and research. 

You can donate to her fundraising page, here .