MS Society praise Drag Race star Veronica Green for revealing diagnosis

The MS Society tell us the nationwide community of those diagnosed with the condition 'will be incredibly grateful to Veronica Green' - who, last week, revealed she'd been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

On her video, she revealed she was 'so scared' to tell the world her news, after being out of the public eye for more than four months.

She added that she'd decided to make her public announcement 'as a way to document my journey and to help raise awareness to a condition that isn't very well known'.

The reasons why somebody develops the condition isn't known, but latest stats show more than 150,000 in the UK alone have a diagnosis.

Dr Sarah Rawlings, Executive Director of Research and External Affairs, told Hits Radio Pride: "Sharing an MS diagnosis can feel really scary, and we know the MS community will be incredibly grateful to Veronica Green for speaking out.

"By doing so, she'll help raise the vital awareness and understanding of a condition that affects more than 150,000 people in the UK.

"MS damages the nerves in you body and can present a range of symptoms.

"It can also make it hard to do a range of everyday things, like walking, talking, eating and thinking - but it's unpredictable, and is different for everyone.

"As Veronica said, she doesn't know how it's going to affect her in the future - but we at the MS Society want to make sure everyone who's being diagnosed with the disease doesn't feel alone."

Veronica's been a star of the Drag scene for years - and rose to fame four years ago, when she was announced as one of twelve contestants competing on the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK.

After being forced out when she contracted Covid, she also appeared on the third series - but left again in the third week, following a lip sync battle.

In the video, Veronica, who is currently in remission, revealed what happened in the lead-up to her diagnosis - which included the complete loss of use of her hands, as well as 'what felt like endless blood tests and several MRI brain and spine scans'.

She said: "I got very sick over the summer.

"Even though I've been formally diagnosed with this condition now, I haven't yet had a specialist appointment, so I've had to do a lot of research into what this means for me myself.

"Once I was diagnosed, I was given a course of steroids, which told my immune system to stop attacking itself - and that allows that inflammation to go down.

"It's now the scars that are left behind that's caused the permanent damage to me - and I've spent the past three months trying to rehabilitate myself.

"I couldn't feed myself, I could barely walk, but now that it's at the point where it's invisible means you can't even really tell I've got the condition.

"The lasting damage currently is strange bouts of tiredness, and my hands are in constant pain.

"I get sensations of pins and needles, sensitive fingertips, feelings of them expanding and shrinking - what I personally feel in my hands goes in bouts of cycles of pain.

"There's no way of knowing what the future holds for me, but what I can say is that I'm well enough to do everything I did before - so I want to be working as much as I can for as long as I can.

"I'm going to be really pushing myself over the next few months - because I know that I'm on potentially a ticking time clock for my singing and my dancing."

There are many facts about MS - but the reality is, as the MS Society told us, everybody suffers from the condition differently.

It's a neurological condition, and it happens when the immune system attacks the special coating of the nerves by mistake.

What that means, eventually, is that the disease can cause permanent damage or deterioration of the nerve fibres, so some people may lose the ability to walk independently or ambulate at all.

There isn't a cure, and it's not contagious - but there are lots of ways people can manage their symptoms when they're diagnosed.

Commenting on her Instagram post, the MS Society added: "Thank you so much for your bravery in sharing your diagnosis.

"There's a really supportive community here so know that you're not alone.

"Sharing your diagnosis will help so many people.

"Please reach out to us if you need support - we're here for you."

You can find plenty more help and information on the MS Society website.

You can also consult the NHS website, who are able to give you the most accurate pointers towards support services, and what to do if you think you have symptoms of MS.

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