Carys Kenna

I had never heard of this condition before.

And essentially, I was given a piece of paper with a website on it, told to look up the symptoms on this website.

And then I was discharged.

Yeah, I was unable to walk at the time.

I asked the nurse, what am I?

Can I bring a wheelchair with me?

She said, oh, you need to contact your local services for that.

And my friend came to collect me from hospital and had to carry me into the car because I was unable to walk.

No follow up, no nothing.

So I was even though I had an answer to what was happening.

I quickly realised there was nothing available there to help me.

There was no follow-up made, no nothing.

It was at this time I started reaching out to other people with FND and I became aware that there was no direct pathway for people with FND in Ireland, which is insane given that FND is nearly as common as multiple cirrhosis in this country.

It's estimated there's anywhere from 9,000 to 10,000 people living with FND.

That was it.

Honestly, at this point, I'm just trying to kind of get through things day to day.

At the time all this was happening, I was in my final few years of college and I was also financially independent at the time.

I'm from Wexford originally.

I was living in Dublin to do my degree in Trinity.

And just I felt like I had almost no help at all.