Ali Ahmad Hijjawi

Country: Palestinian Authority
Age: 47
Type of MS: Relapsing-remitting
Year of Diagnosis: 1998



I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1998 but I had experienced symptoms from the age of 15. I am the President of Multiple Sclerosis Patients’ Friends Society Palestine (MSPF) and a civil engineer. I manage my own company in the city of Nablus and am married with six children.

My first attack affected my left leg. I could not control it or walk properly. I was alone, afraid and started crying. The doctors in my home country were unable to give a name to what I was experiencing. Several relapses occurred during my university career and my early married life but the doctors I saw were unable to give me a diagnosis.

In 1998, I had a relapse that severely affected my vision. I could not coordinate my eyes and was seeing objects in double and triple vision. This time I started to investigate further. I managed to make an appointment to see my current neurologist, who had recently returned to the Palestinian Authority after working for a number of years in the UK. He gave me an MS diagnosis within five minutes. Since then I have been taking the drug treatment Avonex, with some stops when I could not afford it.

The fact that there is a lack of information, support and services for people with MS in the Palestinian Authority gave me the idea of establishing an MS society. MSPF was officially established in April 2004. After four years of campaigning, the MS treatment Avonex was finally included in the Health Ministry’s list of essential drugs in 2008. This means that people with MS can now receive the medicine free of charge from state hospitals on their national medical health insurance.

MSPF opened its new headquarters on World MS Day, May 27 2009. The Palestinian Health minister attended and gave a speech during which he said he was very proud of our achievements and would work closely with us to help people with MS.

My message to people with MS is to stay healthy and look after yourself. You are the same person that you were before your diagnosis of MS. Now you are the same as anyone else with one plus, you plus MS. You are even stronger now - this is my strategy with MS.

MS Patients' Friends Society Palestine