A new diet helped me FIGHT ILLNESS

After a life-changing diagnosis, Sarah Stannard, 52, made drastic changes to her daily routine

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Occasionally, though it doesn't feel like it at the time, a terrible event can end up being the best thing that happened to you. When I was made redundant from my well paid corporate role in 2020, I was devastated. However, in the end, losing that job was the final piece in the puzzle to turning my life around and achieving things I never thought possible. Now, I'm the happiest and healthiest I've ever been and it's all thanks to that awful day.

I'd started fitting the pieces of the puzzle together back in the summer of 2004 when, aged 32, a black dot blurred my vision while I was enjoying a walk along the seafront in Ramsgate. I was with my mum and siblings but, cautious of worrying them, I didn't say anything. I went home hoping to sleep it off, but over the following days, my vision became more blurry.

I called in sick to work, then called the doctor, who sent me to the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Kent for scans. The results showed it was something called optic neuritis, which usually goes away after a few weeks. However, my relief was cut short when the doctor explained that the condition could be an early sign of multiple sclerosis. His words knocked the wind out of me.

I had heard of MS, a chronic disease of the central nervous system, but didn't know much about it.

Wiping the tears from my eyes, I made a vow not to google it and, over the next few months, I buried my head in the sand. However, I was soon experiencing more blurred vision, as well as pins and needles in my arms, along with crippling anxiety.

Goodbye to burgers