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

December 22, 2017January 4, 2018

Santa and His Helpers

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

The trouble with being a mythological supernatural being is that you begin to doubt your own existence. It was all “Marvel this” and “DC that” over kids’ toy choices ... Read more

December 15, 2017December 15, 2017

On the Road

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

It’s 4 a.m. and, unsurprisingly, I’m laying flat on my back. Yesterday, I had a whale of a time and now I feel like a beached one. I’m not ... Read more

December 8, 2017December 7, 2017

Poetic Justice to be a Party Pooper

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

In my angst-ridden teen years, I wrote poetry. It was truly dreadful and should have disappeared in the wash of personal history. Luckily, it was the mid-’70s, and in ... Read more

December 1, 2017November 30, 2017

What Keeps Me Going — and Smiling

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

Shooting the breeze after work has been part of my professional life for 27 years. We’re all winding down, yes, but I’m actually still working. New ideas, niggles, gossip ... Read more

November 17, 2017May 1, 2018

The Case of the Worried Patient

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

Hypochondria grabs, and it’s very difficult to shake. I spent the past three days eliminating potential reasons for struggling more than usual. Hopefully, it was a urinary tract infection ... Read more

November 3, 2017November 3, 2017

The Weekend

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

The weekend should have started on Friday. My sister-in-law is over from France and there was the first gathering of the clan in a local hostelry. I took the ... Read more

October 20, 2017October 19, 2017

The Blowout

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

It was one of those mornings the day after, when I was moving like a zombie before they became ubiquitous. The night before had been my 30th birthday ― ... Read more

October 13, 2017October 12, 2017

Everything in the Garden Is Now Rosy

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

  About 10 years ago, in the days before my MS, I had a whole raft of self-imposed jobs. As a new age man, one of these was doing ... Read more

October 6, 2017October 6, 2017

I Don’t Know What It’s Called, But I Like It

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

It looks like a dog’s leash, but it isn’t. I put in “dog’s lead” and “disabled apparatus” into my first Google search and fittingly was taken down into a ... Read more

September 29, 2017September 28, 2017

One Day at a Time

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

I was going to write about something else, then my MS got in the way. Intellectually, I know MS is very up-and-down, but often when the down hits, I ... Read more

September 22, 2017September 21, 2017

MS and Retirement

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

And so the good news is that if you have MS, then you can get an enhanced annuity in the United Kingdom. That is a higher payment for the ... Read more

September 15, 2017September 18, 2017

MS and Incontinence

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

Another of those things I was never warned about. Maybe if I’d been assigned a local MS nurse at the beginning of my diagnosis, then eruptions out of my ... Read more

September 8, 2017September 8, 2017

Disjointed: Living the New Netflix Sitcom

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

I was going to write about something else this week and then … I got STONED! Those aren’t words I thought I’d ever write. I’d been a kid during ... Read more

September 1, 2017August 31, 2017

My Wee Crisis, Part 2

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

It was a government letter; I opened it with due trepidation. A call for jury service, so not bad news and a chance to do my civic duty. But ... Read more

August 25, 2017August 24, 2017

My Wee Crisis, Part 1

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

Having not stood on a stage and attempted stand-up for some 30 years, I’m not in the habit of writing jokes for myself. Obviously, these days, I’d be a ... Read more

August 11, 2017August 10, 2017

Walk This Way

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

As I write, I’m pain-free. This is important, but not for the obvious reason. I’m pain-free and can walk — or at least stumble — about as best as I’ve ... Read more

August 4, 2017August 3, 2017

Itchy Arms and the Internet: Making Rash Assumptions

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

It’s been an incredibly bad few weeks, so I’m not surprised that I spent recent days wondering if I had incurable liver disease. Living with chronic illness, plus the ... Read more

July 28, 2017July 28, 2017

Going Solo… Sort Of

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

In my youth, I hitchhiked the breadth of North America ― Canada, from east to west. I had 16 first cousins in the country and only my parents back ... Read more

July 21, 2017May 1, 2018

The Mouth that Roared

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

After 10-odd ― indeed, increasingly odd ― years, I presumed I’d become something of a gnarled hand at MS. If you read about something on practically a daily basis, ... Read more

July 14, 2017July 17, 2017

Advantage Me: Now Serving, Wimbledon’s Centre Court

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

It’s Wimbledon fortnight. The tennis signifies it’s the height of the British summer. You usually can tell it’s an English summer because it rains for two weeks. Not this ... Read more

July 7, 2017July 7, 2017

MS Pipe Dreams: Dealing with Urinary Tract Infections

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

I’ve been considering writing about the fun, fun world of catheters. As this column is morphing into some sort of diary, let’s deal with this week’s medical procedural drama. ... Read more

June 30, 2017June 29, 2017

I’m an Only-Can-Do-One-Thing-a-Day Sort of Person

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

So, I recently signed up to join a new and much closer exercise class. The previous drive of nearly an hour each way had proved to be beyond my ... Read more

June 23, 2017June 22, 2017

So Tired of This

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

It’s summer in the U.K., and it’s hot. That’s cause for celebration for everyone but us. It’s actually the hottest June day since 1986. Heat immediately spikes my fatigue. ... Read more

June 16, 2017June 15, 2017

Looking Back in Anger

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

Back in the day, I always wanted to be a columnist. That day was so long ago it was before sunrise. In my youthful naivety, I never thought about ... Read more

June 9, 2017June 8, 2017

Living with MS: There’s a World Out There

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

One of the most dispiriting aspects of a chronic illness is that it traps you in your own world. Major events happen but these are filtered against the achievement ... Read more

June 2, 2017May 1, 2018

Lemtrada II: My Right Foot (Hopefully)

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

Read John Connor’s previous column, “Lemtrada I: This Island Couch.” Apologies for the pic of my edema–riddled right foot. If I put whiskers on it, my big toe could ... Read more

May 26, 2017May 1, 2018

Lemtrada I: This Island Couch

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

The latest drug media storm to erupt in Britain is “Spice,” which causes users to become living statues. Exactly a year ago, I became a living statue for six ... Read more

May 12, 2017May 12, 2017

Whisky Galore: Two Friends Walk and Roll into a Distillery

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

If I was writing fiction about two disabled people going on a road trip, I’d be pleased to create a character like Nigel. He’s stroppy, Northern (from the perspective ... Read more

April 21, 2017April 20, 2017

A Very Hip Story: ‘The Shower That Ate Me’

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

It was three years since I’d seen my best mate Nigel. The last time had been when we said goodbye at London City Airport after our three-day sozzled sojourn ... Read more

April 15, 2017April 28, 2017

There’s Something Wrong with Both of Us

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

There are a few moments when life changes. In my day, it was meeting your partner across a crowded room. Now it’s sadly the flick of an app. What ... Read more

April 7, 2017April 7, 2017

One Day in the Working Life of John Peter Connor

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

These might be the days of the gig economy, but I’ve been doing one every Tuesday for 27 years. My particular white van (for US readers the delivery drivers ... Read more

March 31, 2017March 31, 2017

Request for Tennis Lessons Leads to Academy Teaching Many Disabled

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

In the summer of 2012 David Bowie’s song “Heroes” became the anthem of the London Olympics despite Bowie turning down an invitation from British director Danny Boyle to be ... Read more

March 24, 2017March 24, 2017

History Conjures Up Electricity-Aided Walking, but a Too-Daring Pilot

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

It seems I’ve made it to my second weekly column. I was going to write about a non-MS physical impairment that had kept me down for a month. It’s ... Read more

March 21, 2017March 21, 2017

A Mountain to Climb with MS – in My Living Room

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

So, I’m lying on the floor taking in the stippled ceiling we’ve never changed in the past 19 years. My son,  also 19, is now at university. That’s how ... Read more