When Erin was suddenly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), she felt isolated, afraid and traumatised.

She was just 25 and had no idea where to turn – until she found out about MS Plus Peer Support.

“It was really powerful to find a judgement-free zone, a truly safe space,” Erin says.

That sense of connection is made possible by Peer Support volunteers. The number of Australians living with MS has risen rapidly over the past four years and the need for compassionate peer support is greater than ever.

After being diagnosed, Erin joined her local in-person group, as well as online sessions focused on balancing work with MS. She got so much out of it that she became a volunteer herself.

Erin now runs a group for under 30s, as well as providing one-on-one Peer Support by phone.

“I want to create a space for people to ask questions, or just express how they’re feeling. It means so much to know someone’s going to listen and understand. Plus, people’s suggestions can be really useful,” she says.

Peer Support helped Erin find the confidence her MS diagnosis had taken away.

These days, Erin is living well. She works as a legal assistant, and recently started studying law.

She wanted to share her story with you to make sure more peer support work becomes possible.

“It’s so, so important,” she says. “These options for support make MS a little bit less lonely, make the mountain less high. I think I’d be in a very different place without MS Plus Peer Support.”

Thanks to the incredible generosity of people like you, researchers are working hard and making rapid progression towards finding better treatments for MS and ultimately a cure.

 But until we reach a future without MS, we urgently need your help to bring connection and support to more people like Erin.

Without donations from kind people like you, we can’t recruit, train, and coordinate wonderful volunteers like Erin, who give so much back to their MS community.

Together we can make sure nobody has to face MS alone.

Donate to MS Plus Peer Support – so nobody has to face MS alone.