Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

In the ‘80s, John created the first regular column about the burgeoning London stand-up scene. In 1990 he wrote a book about its effect on the Edinburgh Festival: “Comics: A Decade of Comedy at the Assembly Rooms.” That year he also devised and ran a live topical stand-up team show at The London Comedy Store, The Edge. (It was destroyed in 2020!) In 2009 John was diagnosed with RRMS, which cut short his main job as a TV casting director for “Black Books,” “My Family,” et al. Now, John writes “Fall Down Get Up Again,” an irreverent journey with MS, and also serves as MS News Today Forums co-moderator.

July 12, 2019July 10, 2019

Eight Days a Week

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It was such a jam-packed week that the flavor was definitely multi-fruit! It included a meet-cute with a barber inspired by Richard Curtis (rom-com writer of “Notting Hill” and others). ... Read more

June 28, 2019June 26, 2019

A New Drive for Life: Renovations Let Me Come and Go on My Own

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It’s taken over a year to conceive, organize, and plan, but yesterday, I was able to leave the house on my own. I even checked that I had my house ... Read more

June 21, 2019June 19, 2019

Nearly Thwarted by a Step

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Even in my able-bodied days, I was hardly Channing Tatum — who is? Model, actor, dancer, singer, and he even has the audacity to be funny. There might not be ... Read more

June 14, 2019June 12, 2019

What the Falck Is Going On?

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Stranded. Not on a desert island but in an empty hospital ward. Earlier, it had been filled with fellow MSers getting their Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) infusions. I write “fellow,” but as ... Read more

June 7, 2019June 5, 2019

Thank You for Sharing

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

“Thank you for sharing” is a clichéd phrase I never expected to use, or indeed have used toward me! However, it is often bandied at the end of these columns ... Read more

May 31, 2019May 29, 2019

A Wee Trip — But Not Like in the Past

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I looked at the road, then west to the horizon. It was the Trans-Canada Highway. I was standing just outside Halifax, Nova Scotia. A 23-year-old intending to hitchhike the length ... Read more

May 24, 2019May 22, 2019

Years of Laughter: It’s Been a Mammoth 40 Years

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Last Monday night, I was strangely in the audience at London’s Comedy Store. At a rough calculation, I have directed about 1,500 shows there, have been in the audience for ... Read more

May 17, 2019May 16, 2019

Sunday Morning

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It was a sunny Lower East Side of Manhattan Sunday morning. The bulbous New York Times was shoved, just about, under my arm. I drank a coffee in the sheltered ... Read more

May 10, 2019May 8, 2019

I Survived a Marathon Comedy Festival

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Exactly one year ago on this day of writing, I was down and out. This year, I’m not exactly fighting fit, but the same set of circumstances has pushed me ... Read more

May 3, 2019May 1, 2019

Why I Decided to Join the A-Team (Millennials, Look It Up!) — Part 2

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Second in a series. Read part one.  I’m actually driving! I really can’t remember the last time I had done so. The car I’d had for years from Motability, a car ... Read more

April 26, 2019May 1, 2019

Why I Decided to Join the A-Team (Millennials, Look It Up!) — Part 1

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

First in a two-part series. Do I give in or fight? I’d had all the tests, and in the summer of 2009, my fears were confirmed: I had MS. My ... Read more

April 12, 2019April 11, 2019

The Drugs Do Work … Better Than My Right Hand

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Last weekend a mother brought 4,000£ ($5,200 U.S.) of medicinal cannabis from Holland into the U.K. for her daughter with severe epilepsy. It was confiscated by customs. Last year medicinal ... Read more

April 5, 2019April 3, 2019

Going Mobile

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

In February of last year, I stopped. Walking more than a few steps was suddenly impossible. I’d fought, taken every medication and supplement possible, but I’d lost. Maybe positive thinking ... Read more

March 29, 2019March 27, 2019

Always in the Kitchen at Parties

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

My nephew James has taken an interest in this column since having a starring role in it a few weeks ago. We were at his mum’s 60th birthday party. He ... Read more

March 22, 2019March 20, 2019

Singing the Bureaucracy Blues

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

You think getting a chronic illness is as bad as it’s going to get, but then you quickly realize that you’ve been catapulted into a netherworld. There’s no stepping through ... Read more

March 15, 2019March 19, 2019

The Antibiotic Time Loop-the-Loop

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Julian, the doorman at the London Comedy Store, is giving me his biweekly telling off about drinking. It’s biweekly because he and the other regular doorman, Mark, take turns helping ... Read more

March 8, 2019March 7, 2019

Minority Report

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

In the earlier days of my MS, I could still walk a bit. It was not enough to risk the maze of an airport, so I traveled sensibly in a ... Read more

March 1, 2019March 8, 2019

Hair We Go Again

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I can’t quite remember when I got hooked on the writings of Jack London, but I don’t think I’ve ever quite shaken off his Nietzschean-inspired “Superman” ethos. It comes in ... Read more

February 22, 2019February 27, 2019

Relapse, Relapse, Relapse

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Relapses can be sneaky. They can scythe you down. I’ve been dealing with multiple sclerosis (MS) since 2006 and I only consciously remember two relapses. The first relapse was two years ... Read more

February 15, 2019February 14, 2019

Stuck in Delivery Limbo Land

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Take a minute … and relax. It’s been a fraught few weeks of numerous solo hospital visits, as my wife was first dealing with a dying father and then helping to ... Read more

February 8, 2019February 14, 2019

Wrap Up Warm: It’s Colder than Mars!

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

OK, I’ve used a typical tabloid headline to draw you into a column about dealing with lymphedema. Well, the topic is not exactly sexy! Though my calves are now extremely ... Read more

February 1, 2019January 30, 2019

The Hospital Trilogy

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

If MS was just about MS, it wouldn’t be easy, but it would be a lot easier. It’s different for all of us. For me, MS means ambulation is practically impossible. ... Read more

January 25, 2019January 23, 2019

A Voyage Round My Father-in-law

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

This is going to be a hard column to write, and quite possibly it breaks all the rules of column writing by being a tough one to read! I’ve always ... Read more

January 18, 2019January 28, 2019

Do What You Can

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

One of the hardest things I’ve had to accept with MS is the necessity of asking for help. Pride and self-reliance dissipate remarkably quickly when you find yourself splayed on ... Read more

January 11, 2019January 9, 2019

It’s Back-to-School Time

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Well, it feels like it, at least. I just had the whole of the Christmas-New Year’s period off because of how the dates fell. If you only have to be ... Read more

January 4, 2019January 8, 2019

What a Relief!

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

New year, new beginnings — not a chance. Theresa May still has Brexit as her waking and sleeping nightmare, and I’m still battling urinary tract infections (UTIs). Over the last ... Read more

December 21, 2018December 19, 2018

A Winter’s Tale

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

If you think Christmas is just too stressful, relax — at least you’re not Santa! He’s had to work every single Christmas Day for the last 1,600 years. He was ... Read more

December 14, 2018December 13, 2018

Betwixt and Between

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Usually, I have an idea of what I’m going to write. Today, all I feel is a bit meeeeugh … Which is more a sound of ennui than a recognizable word. ... Read more

December 7, 2018December 19, 2018

The Right Hand of Lightness

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

There’s a joy in going on a long journey in which I get the luxury of sleeping through the whole thing. It’s practically magical. Or scientifically, like teleportation. I was ... Read more

November 30, 2018December 11, 2018

In Real Time

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

So, “it” started on Monday. I have no idea what I’m dealing with. Is it a urinary tract infection, a relapse, a bird, or a plane? The superhero metaphor is ... Read more

November 16, 2018November 26, 2018

And the Good News Is …

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Getting started on any career is fraught with difficulty, and the trail that got me to my base camp was truly meandering. It was nearly as convoluted as that sentence! ... Read more

November 9, 2018November 14, 2018

Medical Marijuana in the UK: So Near and Yet So Far

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

As I’m writing this, my right arm is tight and my right hand is cramped up. I was out working last night and night work always shatters me the next ... Read more

November 2, 2018November 1, 2018

How I Managed to Get a Scary Halloween Haircut

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

“You’ve had a haircut — very smart!” was the greeting at work. Yes, but it was in no way a simple thing. The logistics involved were really that: It took ... Read more

October 26, 2018November 2, 2018

Every Day Is Like a Box of Chocolates

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Each morning, I’m confronted by an adaptation of the conundrum faced by Forest Gump’s mother: “Life like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re gonna get.” If ... Read more

October 19, 2018October 18, 2018

Taking a Flu Day

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Going to bed late and sleeping is reportedly a marker of intelligence. In that case, I am definitely something of a genius. So, it’s always a shock when I have to ... Read more

October 12, 2018October 10, 2018

A Black Mark for the Black Cab

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Sorry, this story is definitely parochial and about being disabled, rather than narrowly focused on having MS. It also turns out to be somewhat celebratory — albeit starting from a ... Read more

October 5, 2018October 11, 2018

Don’t Turn Anything Down!

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

At the start of all of this, when I was laid low in the hospital by what turned out to be sclerosis, I was visited by my mate Nigel. He ... Read more

September 28, 2018October 3, 2018

The Morning After the Night Before

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Last Wednesday morning didn’t go according to plan. I’m lackluster every Wednesday morn because Tuesday nights are my regular work gig at London’s Comedy Store. I laugh too much, drink too ... Read more

September 21, 2018September 28, 2018

A Pain in the Back, Part 2

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Second in a series. Read part one. Last week, I wrote about solving my back problems by purchasing a mattress topper for my bed. It was a good thing, too, as I was going ... Read more

September 14, 2018September 19, 2018

A Pain in the Back, Part 1

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

First in a series. So this is what an earthquake feels like? Well, it wasn’t that dramatic, but it was the middle of the night, and I’d been abruptly awakened to ... Read more