Growing up at sea

Brian Baker is an MS Member who uses the Centre on a regular basis for therapies. He was born in 1944 and tragically lost his mum at the age of 10 which he says “had a devastating effect on me, it sent me off the rails and I got into all sorts of trouble”.  

Life at sea

After ending up in court at a young age, his father didn’t know what to do with him and at the age of 13, Brian was sent to the Arethusa ship. Shaftesbury Homes provided naval training and education to boys like Brian. Along with 240 other boys, Brian trained and learnt on the ship until he left at the age of 16 and entered the Merchant Navy. He disliked the Merchant Navy as he felt he “wanted to be in charge”, so he left and took on an apprenticeship as a carpenter. Unfortunately, the building industry entered a recession so he went back to the Navy where he was 2nd in command of a Salvage Tug.  

In his early 20’s Brian met his wife Joy, who he describes as “Joy by name, Joy by nature!”. They married in 1969 and Brian returned to carpentry, later becoming a Senior Contracts Manager. Together they have two “cracking children” and three lovely grandchildren and have been married 53 years. 

Diagnosis

During the late 70’s and early 80’s, Brian began to feel pins and needles in his hands. After undergoing a range of tests (although no MRI scanners at that time), his doctor who Brian describes as having “no beside manner, told me ‘You’ve got MS, there’s nothing I can do for you, see you in six months’. The nurse was as shocked as Brian and went on to explain what Multiple Sclerosis was to him as he had not heard of it.  

He joined the MS Society who provided him with lots of information. However, due to Brian’s background in diving throughout his life, he felt his symptoms were connected to this and not MS. He went for two weeks of testing at the National Neurological Hospital and was told he had Secondary Progressive MS and would one day be in a wheelchair.  

“I decided from then, to live my life normally. I carried on diving, I also have keen interest in gardening and use an old scooter which allows me to still dig and grow vegetables. I also spend a lot of time working with the Arethusa Old Boys Association which I founded and am now the Treasurer and Membership Secretary.”

Finding the Centre

He started coming to the Centre when it was back in the portacabin but left for a number of years, then he returned eight years ago and was the first MS Member to use our hydrotherapy pool as it stands now! After taking another break, Brian came back to the Centre last June. He “walked in the door and bumped into my old friend Peter, who introduced me to the ‘Wednesday morning group’. I find as much benefit from the therapies the Centre offers as I do from chatting to all of the lovely people here. I can’t speak highly enough of the staff too, I’m always greeted with a smile and really enjoy coming.” 

Brian uses a range of therapies here such as hydrotherapy which he says “helps to move parts of my body that are usually static.” Oxygen therapy gives him the added benefit of aiding with his asthma. His massages with Iuliana works wonders for him and he says “she manages to know things about my body that only I know.” 

Even though Brian didn’t tell his wife Joy about his MS diagnosis for four years, he now tries to treat his MS positively. His eldest daughter once asked him if he ever regretted having MS and he answered, tongue-in-cheek, “no, if I didn’t I’d have to go to work!”