The profile of the month is chosen by the MSIF editor. The August Profile is Gunilla Nilsen.

Gunilla

Email:Contact Gunilla
Country of Residence: Zimbabwe
Year of Diagnosis: 1978
Occupation : Part-time poet
Type of MS: No-one has ever told me, but I have been stable for the last fourteen years.

I was born in Helsinki, Finland on 17 August 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II and two months before the Russian invasion of Finland. My mother died when I was born, and I grew up without brothers and sisters. My father, a lawyer, devoted as much time to me as he possibly could. I went twice to Sweden as a war child and returned to an impoverished and war-torn Finland at the age of six.

I went to "Swedish" schools in Helsinki. Finland is still a two-language country. Nevertheless, I had to learn Finnish, which has very little linguistic similarity to Swedish. I graduated as a social worker and worked some time in that capacity in Finland until I married an Englishman in 1961. We moved shortly after the wedding to England. We had two children.

Soon after arriving in London, I began writing a monthly newspaper column for a national Swedish newspaper in Finland. After typing the articles, they were submitted to the editor by post. I also published a small volume of poetry in English in 1972. I worked as a volunteer social worker from 1964 until 1972 for the London Education Authority in association with a girls' school in Ladbroke Grove.

From 1972 to 1975, I worked for a firm of Bond Street solicitors, and assisted barristers with court cases in the courtroom itself. It was at this time that I experienced the first symptoms of MS, and remember one incidence of falling down the stairs at the office. For the first time, walking to the underground became tiring and I often had minor problems with balance and sometimes stumbled. Luckily, my previous training in Judo had taught me how to fall. I got divorced in 1974. My social life brought me in contact with some famous and fascinating people - London was definitely the place to be in the Swinging Sixties, and early Seventies!

In 1977, when my two children from my previous marriage were 16 and 17, I married Olav, a Swedish consultant engineer in the pulp and paper industry. We moved to Sweden and lived in Stockholm for two years.

The social services there were excellent and I regularly went for physiotherapy. My husband then got a position in Vancouver, Canada and we intended to immigrate. However, my speech was badly affected at the time, so I did not pass in immigration medical examination. At this time I had not yet been diagnosed with MS. Olav had already signed his employment contract, so I went to Canada as a tourist. Since permanent residence in Canada was not an option, we went back to Sweden.

It took about 4 or 5 years of being given the run-about by an English doctor in Harley Street (who charged £1.00 per minute at the time), and a Swedish professor, before I was finally diagnosed with MS in 1978 by a young eye specialist in Stockholm. My first symptoms included double vision for about six weeks, and, of course, the speech difficulties. I already suspected it was MS because I had discussed my symptoms with a friend who was a nurse. What helped me cope initially was my social work experience. I asked myself what I would have advised people to do in my position, and then did it. It was almost as if I had to be two people at once.

Whilst in Stockholm, I was persuaded to use a walking stick by the fact that people using public transport were kind to you if you used a stick, and taxis charged lower fares. Next, I used a walker, and by 1982 was relieved when it was suggested I use a wheelchair, since I did not have to struggle any more.

Olav secured a position in Munich, Germany. At the time I could still walk, but slowly. It is interest to note that around about this time I was twice refused entrance into restaurants in Helsinki due to my irregular walking, until the staff were told that I was not drunk, but had MS. In Munich, I joined the MS-Verein, and found the weekly meetings on Thursdays enjoyable.

After two years in Munich, we went back to Sweden, to a small town called Norrköping where I joined the local MS society and went to a modern centre twice a week for exercise. I travelled there and back in a taxi which was paid for by the Swedish welfare. The driver and his assistant came to the flat on the fifth floor to take me down, since I was now in a wheelchair. We lived in an old-fashioned house, so they had to change the elevator gates. They also made a few changes to the flat we rented, such as removing the thresholds. When my husband was away, I got help with cleaning and food. I was even checked on in the middle of the night by welfare staff. I was also given a "bracelet" with a transmitter, which I could use to call for help if I fell down in the flat. Help came almost immediately, and since the welfare staff had keys to the door, access to the flat was easy. Whilst living in Norrköping, I participated in an event involving a few boats sailing from Stockhom to Aøland, a large Finnish island located between Sweden and Finland. The experience in Sweden of having MS was good in a way because of the support that the Swedish authorities give to sports and other activities for the handicapped. One never felt left out.

My husband then started working as an independent consultant engineer, which took him around the world, and the best thing was that I could sometimes travel with him, both within Sweden and abroad. As a result, I spent a month in Ethiopia, where my eyes were opened to a different perception regarding well-being.

In 1984 I accompanied my husband to Bangladesh where we spent six weeks at a paper mill in Chittagong Hill Tracts. I made some good friends there, including the mill manager and his family. Since then I have visited by myself in my wheelchair three times, and regard my stay in Bangladesh as one of the most memorable in my life.

In 1989, Olav got an assignment in Zimbabwe, and by the time he had retired, we had become Zimbabwean residents. The good climate and high altitude in Harare has benefited my MS symptoms. Mobility in my limbs improved compared to the difficulties experienced in the cold of the Northern Hemisphere.

In 1991, I employed my first nurse aid, and now have three who work in shifts, assist me, and who all live on my suburban property in Harare. I have been involved in the affairs of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Zimbabwe since 1991, and have been a member of the Executive Committee for about six years. Professor Laurence Levy is my Neurologist, and has treated me and most other people with MS in Zimbabwe for many years. I am on the People with MS International Committee and have attended MS International Federation conferences in Buenos Aires (1997), Basel (1999), Venice (2000), Melbourne (2001) and look forward to the forthcoming conference in Berlin (2003), and my husband Olav, who has always been totally supportive of me, will be accompanying me this time.

Nowadays, I find that contact with many friends made all over the world over the years very enjoyable.

I derive much encouragement from the words of the Apostle Paul,
"... my strength is made perfect in weakness."
Cor II, 12:9.