MS Readathon

I had seen references to it.

It's not really the same, but it reminded me a bit of the days of the MS Readathon when I was young, where you wrote down the names of all the books that you read and you raised money for multiple sclerosis.

Yes, we did.

Yeah, we got sponsors.

Since her diagnosis, Sarah has learned to navigate the often invisible challenges of MS, including fatigue, pain and brain fog, while also having to continue to balance family life and her career as a primary teacher.

So let's talk now to Sarah about her diagnosis, living and working with MS, the importance of support and community, her love of reading and why the MS Readathon is a campaign that means so much to her.

Let's hear now from Sarah.

Sarah, you're very welcome to the podcast.

I'm 37 now and I have two children and my husband is a dairy farmer.

And I'm delighted to say that you're our MS Ireland Readathon ambassador for 2026.

You know, would you have been aware of the MS Readathon? Yeah,

I would have heard of it before.

So I suppose for me, MS isn't just, um, a word or a diagnosis.

It's something that's had such a, a real impact on my life, uh, and that's why the MS Readathon campaign means so much to me.

Um, but I suppose it w- it all began in, uh, 2021, about three months after I had my son, um, and I started to get, uh, numbness in my stomach, and it kind of traveled down through my legs.

And again, a lot of what I was experiencing at the time, when I asked about it, like a lot of the things were put down to, "Oh, you've just had a baby.

[laughs] I agree, yes.

I, I think that's probably, that's probably it.

But that's why I think the, when they had asked me, MS Ireland asked me to be the ambassador then for the MS Readathon, I was delighted because it's such a meaningful, um, initiative, and it's one way that I suppose I can channel [laughs] my energy into something that is not so good, but to turn it into something that is good and hopefully will help, help people.

And I know that, um, MS Ireland just do so much, and I've, you know, experienced so many, um, different services of what they provide.

It's Monday morning and we are moving now to our first guest of the morning.

So that guest is Sarah Mather, a primary school teacher, a mum of two, an ambassador for this year's MS Readathon.

Sarah was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2022 and is now encouraging schools, families and readers across Ireland to get involved in the November Readathon.

Sarah, you're really welcome to D15 this morning.

But I think that kind of helped that love of reading for her to

grow.

And I just think with the MS Readathon as well, I think everybody benefits.

It's a fun way, you know, it's inclusive and people can read whatever way they want.

I love being able to escape into a different reality or somebody else's.

Um, but also, the MS Readathon was a massive piece of something that we did.

And so it's a, uh, readathon that's done yearly in schools.

Uh, we did it in elementary school.

So over the next year, I'm excited to continue bringing Willow's Mom has MS into schools, homes and MS communities internationally.

I'm also supporting the MS Readathon in Ireland.

I know you in Australia, you have the MS Readathons as well.

And again, contributing to research initiatives in Ireland and here in the UAE as well.

and continue with my advocacy work with the MS Society here.

...

the reading comp, MS Readathon.

MS Readathon.

I go, "I've got this, girls."

Yeah.