'Life can still be beautiful - even with a long-term condition'

Podcaster Ashleigh on living with MS

- PAIGE OLDFIELD

WHEN Ashleigh Talbot first noticed a slight tingling at the top of her left thigh, she didn't think much of it.

Working at the Manchester International Festival, she was always on the go and assumed the strange sensation would soon pass.

But when weeks went by and the feeling still hadn't gone away, Ashleigh, who lives in Ancoats, decided to visit her GP.

The doctor said it was probably nothing to worry about and asked her to come back if it persisted.

And the bizarre tingling did persist eventually spreading down her leg as it became increasingly uncomfortable.

Other symptoms also started to appear including pain, difficulties with movement and even problems with her bladder.

Ashleigh wondered whether it was just a part of getting older at the age of 35. But when the sensation spread to her other leg in 2020, she knew it had to be something serious.

"It started around 2019," Ashleigh, who is a transgender woman and transitioned in 2012, said.

"Initially, I was given an ultrasound and sent through infectious diseases to make sure I didn't have anything weird and exotic. It took a while for me to get a referral to neurology.

"When it spread to my other leg s around 2020, I thought, 'Right, b well, sh**, this might be a lot worse s than we thought." Ashleigh's deteriorating mobility t meant she had to move into a t downstairs bedroom as she was it unable to use the stairs. She also needed to start using a walking h stick around the home.

Before long, it was even impacting her new role at Mines Advisory w Group (MAG), which carries out te landmine clearance, bomb disposal and destruction of abandoned small arms and light weapons.

"I love to cook - I always have but I stopped being able to do that," Ashleigh told the News.