My name is Andy McKenna. I was a professional mountain bike guide and ‘This Way Up’ is a 2017 documentary about living with Multiple Sclerosis and my quest for an active path to health.

 

In 2022, the follow up film 'Evolution' was released - this became a catalyst for the 'Evolution Stories' series which included 'MS Makes Me' (released 2023).

I'm not really 'stoked' on MS but I do appreciate the irony. Plus it's a decent way to kick start an important conversation about an ugly disease. I have been living with MS without use of pharmaceutical MS medication (until the longterm benefits of pharmaceuticals are proven to me, I'll stick to this personal path) since 2007 and I am proof that there’s a way of leading a healthy, productive life. To this day I still operate my mountain bike guiding business (Go-Where Scotland) with my wife Aneela and I get outside into the mountains on my bicycle as often as I can as part of my therapy. In 2018/19 we raised nearly £70, 000 for the unsung hero charity Overcoming MS and here's a recent podcast they kindly asked me to contribute to.

MS is an ‘incurable’ degenerative and disabling neurological disease affecting the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves of almost 2.5 million people worldwide. It usually causes attacks of neurologic symptoms including vision loss, paralysis, numbness, bladder problems and walking difficulties.

It’s still a mystery why it happens but it’s caused when the body’s own immune system attacks and damages the Myelin, a complex substance that surrounds and insulates nerve fibres, and reduces the ability of the brain and spinal cord to transmit signals. There is no medical cure for MS.

But all is not lost! There’s a growing community living with MS who believe there is an alternative way of managing the disabling effects of MS. It is not simply a pill or an injection - it’s an outlook, a set of lifestyle changes and holistic strategies that have been thoroughly researched, tried and tested. A set of changes that will help the healing power of the mind and body to work together.

STOKED ON MS is a way of creating dialogue with people about agency, autonomy and alternative ways of living well in the face of uncertainty. Overcoming MS (OMS) is the charity established to promote a positive lifestyle programme that aims to help people with MS live long, healthy lives. OMS is committed to improving the lives of people with MS by providing the tools to enable recovery.