From bed-bound to 5am runner: Niti helps power £100m MS appeal

A Leeds mum once too ill to get out of bed is now up running at 5am - and using her multiple sclerosis (MS) journey to help to drive a national £100m research push.

- by Nina Swift

Niti Patel, 44, from New Farnley, was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease 12 years ago.

She is now taking part in the MS Society's Stop MS Appeal through the charity's latest nationwide project, MS Letters - in which people living with MS explore their journey by writing a letter to their younger self or someone important to them.

Explaining why she wanted to write a letter to her younger self, Niti said: "I think I've become a lot more confident now and I worry less than I would have when I was diagnosed.

"I'm telling my past self that it is going to be OK and to take it a day at a time and just deal with whatever comes your way. You can still be the person you want to be, which I am now doing."