Claire McDonald was a formidable corporate professional fuelled by her career and bustling family life, with dreams of enjoying "more freedom, less worry" once her children had flown the nest. But her future aspirations, household finances and even her "sense of purpose" came tumbling down when she was diagnosed with a progressive disease.

The mum had found herself tired and tripping up. Then she began to forget words mid sentence but had no idea of the cause.

Thinking it was stress she was shocked when doctors diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis (MS), MS is achronic autoimmune condition affecting the brain and spinal cord, where the immune system mistakenly attacks the protective sheath around nerve fibres.

• 'I'm a GP and there are 3 medications I don't like prescribing to anyone'


• Man with lung cancer given six months to live moves to remote island and lives another 40 years

It can impact vision, balance, motor skills, muscle strength, senses and cognition amongst many others. Unlike other forms of MS, the primary progressive type Claire suffers from doesn't includeperiods of remissionwhere symptoms might ease but relentlessly deteriorates.

Whilst there are some treatments to manage symptoms, there isn't a cure. Claire says: "MS has taken things from me I can't get back. Things that I miss dearly, like walking for miles in the sunshine and fresh air, having races with my now grown-up children to the top of the hill near our house, going out on my own to the shop, even just leaving the house.

"I live with physical pain, complete exhaustion, discomfort, walking with crutches or using a wheelchair, uncertainty, and the inability to plan far ahead. But it has also given me a new outlook on life and has strengthened my empathy, resilience, and creativity to new heights."

The South Derbyshire mum told how she began experiencing symptoms in her mid-40s but frequently brushed off the warning signs. She explains: "I used to think fatigue was just tiredness. That tripping over my own feet was just clumsiness. Being unable to walk as far as I used to and the pains in my legs, I told myself, were just my age. Forgetting words mid-sentence was just stress."

When Claire eventually received her diagnosis, she found it difficult to come to terms with how dramatically it would alter her life. She says: "I felt like my life had been whipped from under my feet, taken away in the blink of an eye.

"Everything I used to be able to do became a distant memory. I had to leave work because of my illness, and I'm in the house on my own all day, with nobody to speak to. I've always been an independent woman, so I couldn't accept that there were things I could no longer do. I still keep thinking it must be a dream.

"I expected these years to be full of work. It gave me such a sense of purpose, and it was well paid, so we could do whatever we wanted. We knew the kids would be grown up by this point, so we expected more freedom, less worry. Instead, because of my diagnosis, it is the complete opposite of that - less freedom and more worry."

Like countless others with a disability, Claire has also witnessed how her diagnosis devastated her family's finances. On average, Scope estimates disabled households face an extra £1,095 monthly burden on living costs.

For Claire, it wasn't just a matter of rising costs but a sudden income gap as well. She says: "I have gone from having a lot of money at the end of each month to having hardly anything left."

Attempting to discover alternative methods to slash outgoings, Claire acknowledges one minor silver lining is her condition means they can't venture out very frequently, which helps to reduce expenditure. She also discovered Purpl, a cost-cutting platform created for people with disabilities, which has proved to be a lifesaver.

Purpl's founder, Georgina Colman, developed the platform following her own MS diagnosis. She explained: "I know how it feels to have your life changed by a diagnosis. I wanted to create something to give disabled people back some control, dignity, and financial breathing room. I hope that through our work, we can continue to support people as they navigate disability, both financially and emotionally."

Despite having her life turned upside down, Claire has now found new meaning in her condition. She says: "I decided to write a book that would help children, parents and teachers with emotions and how to deal with them. The book has now turned into a series of books! I've written five of them called 'The World of Tilda Jones'."