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Debbie Ensor in her garden at King Henry’s Road |
‘I had a disability and realised that I just had to get on with my life’
Diagnosed with MS in her twenties, one woman turned to yoga as a way of keeping fit
DEBBIE Ensor is hoping for a medical breakthrough but in the meantime her advice to other multiple sclerosis sufferers is to keep fit and healthy.
The yoga practitioner, who lives in King Henry’s Road, Primrose Hill, runs sessions for disabled people at Swiss Cottage Community Centre every Tuesday morning.
“We all share experiences and help each other,” she said. “It’s good to do something physical, feel more in control and focus your mind on getting better and not giving in to what is commonly thought to be a progressive condition.”
Ms Ensor was aged just 14 she started visiting her GP complaining of double vision and numbness in her left leg.
She was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) – the most common neurological condition affecting young adults in the northern hemisphere – when she was in her twenties.
“I was told I was being neurotic and that it was psychosomatic,” she said, “so I stopped going to the doctors for quite a few years.
“But when the numbness would go away it would come back stronger,” said Ms Ensor.
The disease, a result of interference with the messages between the brain and the rest of the body, is particularly difficult to diagnose.
Once referred to a neurologist, Ms Ensor underwent a series of tests on her leg and hand co-ordination, balance, sensation, speech and reflexes, as well as blood tests. She also had an MRI scan and a lumbar puncture to test fluid in her spine.
Virtually unheard of in countries like Malaysia and Ecuador, MS is more common in countries further away from the equator.
Some researchers believe it is a result of a bacteria or childhood virus.
MS does not cause death, but it increases a sufferer’s risk of chest or bladder infections, which can be fatal.
“I was left with this disability and realised I just had to get on with it,” said Ms Ensor.
“I wanted to find out how to manage things, and it seemed natural to explore a career supporting people in a similar situation to me.”
The daughter of a public health inspector and primary school secretary, Ms Ensor was born in Islington and brought up in Norfolk.
Despite suffering from polio as a child and missing out on much of her school education as a result, Ms Ensor completed a librarianship degree at Manchester University and worked at the city’s world-renowned library.
In her late teens she married an accountant in Keele, in Staffordshire. It was during the marriage, which only lasted a few years, that she was diagnosed with the debilitating illness. After her divorce she moved to West Hampstead to be near friends.
She became active a support group called Disability in Camden (DISC) developing it into a more user-led project rather than relying on medical experts to co-ordinate advice. With her transport (scooter, walking frame and wheelchair) and housing needs provided for, Ms Ensor turned her focus on improving her physical mobility.
Before qualifying as a yoga teacher in 1989 with the Yoga for Health Foundation, she took a trip to an Ashram in India to learn more about her chosen discipline.
Since her increased levels of confidence in her physical ability she has abseiled down a rock face in 2002 and completed a parachute jump to raise funds for The MS Society.
She said: “Yoga has become a real passion for me. It is not just the physical aspect, it’s a whole way of life.” |
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