An Open Letter to a Newly Diagnosed Patient
I’ve been a co-moderator on the MS News Today Forums for a couple of months now and recently wrote…
Articles by John Connor
Hell Week: Record Heat Teams Up with a Sneaky Infection
Last Thursday was the hottest day ever recorded in U.K. history at 101.6 degrees F. Heat sensitivity is enough to…
Beaten by the Heat: Oh, What a Night!
It’s 1 p.m. in the U.K., and it’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit. I can hardly move due to the heat. My left…
I Survived My ‘Home Alone’ Weekend
OK, this was my first test. Accomplish this and Day One should be a breeze. The trick is not to…
Eight Days a Week
It was such a jam-packed week that the flavor was definitely multi-fruit! It included a meet-cute with a barber…
A New Drive for Life: Renovations Let Me Come and Go on My Own
It’s taken over a year to conceive, organize, and plan, but yesterday, I was able to leave the house on…
Nearly Thwarted by a Step
Even in my able-bodied days, I was hardly Channing Tatum — who is? Model, actor, dancer, singer, and he…
What the Falck Is Going On?
Stranded. Not on a desert island but in an empty hospital ward. Earlier, it had been filled with fellow MSers…
Thank You for Sharing
“Thank you for sharing” is a clichéd phrase I never expected to use, or indeed have used toward me! However,…
A Wee Trip — But Not Like in the Past
I looked at the road, then west to the horizon. It was the Trans-Canada Highway. I was standing just…
Years of Laughter: It’s Been a Mammoth 40 Years
Last Monday night, I was strangely in the audience at London’s Comedy Store. At a rough calculation, I have…
Sunday Morning
It was a sunny Lower East Side of Manhattan Sunday morning. The bulbous New York Times was shoved, just…
I Survived a Marathon Comedy Festival
Exactly one year ago on this day of writing, I was down and out. This year, I’m not exactly…
Why I Decided to Join the A-Team (Millennials, Look It Up!) — Part 2
Second in a series. Read part one. I’m actually driving! I really can’t remember the last time I had…
Why I Decided to Join the A-Team (Millennials, Look It Up!) — Part 1
First in a two-part series. Do I give in or fight? I’d had all the tests, and in the summer…
The Drugs Do Work … Better Than My Right Hand
Last weekend a mother brought 4,000£ ($5,200 U.S.) of medicinal cannabis from Holland into the U.K. for…
Going Mobile
In February of last year, I stopped. Walking more than a few steps was suddenly impossible. I’d fought, taken…
Always in the Kitchen at Parties
My nephew James has taken an interest in this column since having a starring role in it a…
Singing the Bureaucracy Blues
You think getting a chronic illness is as bad as it’s going to get, but then you quickly realize…
The Antibiotic Time Loop-the-Loop
Julian, the doorman at the London Comedy Store, is giving me his biweekly telling off about drinking.
Minority Report
In the earlier days of my MS, I could still walk a bit. It was not enough to risk…
Hair We Go Again
I can’t quite remember when I got hooked on the writings of Jack London, but I don’t think I’ve…
Relapse, Relapse, Relapse
Relapses can be sneaky. They can scythe you down. I’ve been dealing with multiple sclerosis (MS) since 2006 and…
Stuck in Delivery Limbo Land
Take a minute … and relax. It’s been a fraught few weeks of numerous solo hospital visits, as…
Wrap Up Warm: It’s Colder than Mars!
OK, I’ve used a typical tabloid headline to draw you into a column about dealing with lymphedema. Well,…
The Hospital Trilogy
If MS was just about MS, it wouldn’t be easy, but it would be a lot easier. It’s different for…
A Voyage Round My Father-in-law
This is going to be a hard column to write, and quite possibly it breaks all the rules of…
Do What You Can
One of the hardest things I’ve had to accept with MS is the necessity of asking for help. Pride…
It’s Back-to-School Time
Well, it feels like it, at least. I just had the whole of the Christmas-New Year’s period off because…
What a Relief!
New year, new beginnings — not a chance. Theresa May still has Brexit as her waking and sleeping nightmare,…