Jimmy Memento

Welcome to the Raw Nerve, the official podcast of MS Australia, a conversation space for all things multiple sclerosis. Join us for news and views on the latest research, treatments, and advocacy efforts. As well as candid and informative interviews with our community, those living with MS, and their families and carers, together with leading clinicians, researchers, and advocates. 

Phil O’Neil:

Hello, I’m Phil O’Neill. Thank you for joining us for MS Australia’s Raw Nerve Podcast where we meet ordinary Australians with MS, who share with us the extraordinary stories of their MS journey. I recently read a story about a Sydney tattoo artist called Jimmy Memento, who despite the difficulties he’s experienced with MS, continues to do very skillful and artistic tattoo work. So, I thought I’d pop down to Jimmy’s studio in Alexandria in Sydney to hear his story. All right. Let’s go back to how this MS diagnosis came about and also how you realized that you had MS and where you were, how old you were.

Jimmy Memento:

The initial diagnosis I actually did on myself through a series of numbness in one side of my body. I had diplopia, which was double vision. It works for me to wear an eye patch to see properly. I was about 23 years old. When I was about 25 years old, after reporting repeatedly that I was pretty certain I had MS, it took me going into the emergency room, collapsing, and then they put me in for MRIs for what they thought at the time was a stroke.

Phil O’Neil:

And so they saw the MRIs, they saw the lesions on the MRIs, and then did they immediately realize that it was MS or did you still go through more tests?

Jimmy Memento:

Well, they did the lumbar punch, the spinal tap. They tested my fluid and that ran positive for MS.

Phil O’Neil:

Did you suspect this was going to be the diagnosis?

Jimmy Memento:

First, I went through the trauma of finding out that you have such a debilitatindnag and deteriorating illness. And, at being so young, I thought my life was taken away from me that day. Doing my research from that point, even in the hospital, I started to find that it wasn’t the case and I had options and a path I could walk to make my health better, even without the disease modification therapies.

Phil O’Neil:

Because the thing about Googling is you can go down two different rabbit holes. One, you can go down the root of education. The other one, there’s a great deal of fear as well, and I think it’s important for people, if they are trying to find out information about MS, is to keep it away from a lot of the Facebook experts and really go with the research.

Jimmy Memento:

Yeah. You have to really define your sources. Okay. So you have to almost be like a journalist and you have to be like your own doctor. I, however, found a doctor from overseas abroad who had MS I started following her protocol. I lost a lot of weight. I ate completely different. Most of it was leafy greens, natural fats. I love my bone broth. I love my organ meats, and that made a miraculous turnaround and one that I saw no real significant symptoms of MS for the last 10 years.

Phil O’Neil:

How’s that showing up on your MRIs as well? Have you noticed any new indications of new lesions or anything like that?

Jimmy Memento:

Well, after the 10 years, I had everyone in my ear saying, “This was a misdiagnosis. This wasn’t correct. Live your life. Go to Italy, eat all the Italian food, eat the pasta, eat the oil.” I got back from my European trip last year and I just didn’t feel right, put on a lot of weight. I was drinking alcohol again. I was doing all the things that I taught myself not to, just from the confidence of not having any symptoms over that eight to 10 year period.

Then one day I woke up, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk, and my face had not a paralysis, but a sustained facial spasm. So, all the muscles on the left side of my face were pulled up into a smile permanently, and it hurt. So then I went back in. I did this privately. I went and got my own MRIs. I went to just a GP, told him what was going on, requested MRIs, checked them, and sure enough, I had a really debilitating amount of lesions.

Phil O’Neil:

Were these new lesions?

Jimmy Memento:

Definitely new since the 10 years ago. The first time I had the MRIs was in diagnosis 15 years ago. The second time I had them was six months ago, and now I had the third sets. That damage had become a lot better after I did my very, very strict dieting and fasting regime in synergy with yoga, stretching two times a day and meditation. I found that that decreases the inflammation dramatically, and I felt a million barks.

The second scans came back and I had new lesions, ganglial T1, T2, and I had them in my brain stems. And they also discovered this strange, benign tumor in the bone of my spine, I think in my C10 or C7. And I’m fine, I can still do a handstand, walk on my hands, do the splits. My physical ability since the episode, it was obviously bad, I couldn’t walk, I had full body paralysis, but since I’ve cleaned my act up, I’ve been fine. And I feel better than I have every other time.

Phil O’Neil:

That’s interesting, isn’t it? Because I’m 60 now, but I feel I’m healthier than I was when I was 30. I took things into my own hands as well by supplementation, by diet, completely changed my diet just like you did. Completely changed my entire lifestyle.

Jimmy Memento:

I’ve tried to convince other people that I’ve met with MS. Everyone’s like, “Oh, how are you doing what you’re doing? You’re doing so well. I’ve got this friend with MS or my auntie or my mom with MS.” And I’ve try to pass the information on and to be honest, face-to-face with someone that is suffering dramatically from the symptoms of MS, when you tell them that they’ve got to put the cheeseburger down, they don’t want to do it. I’ve been exploring more recently, and it turned out the meditation that I’ve been doing since the first diagnosis 15 years ago, I was doing transcendental meditation. Now, I’ve only recently found that that’s the way of the Vedic, which is basically it’s like descendants of Maharishi.

And I go to bed with positive insight for the day ahead of me.

Phil O’Neil:

With your work, because if you tell people you’ve got MS, but you’re going to leave an indelible and permanent mark on their skin, do they go, “Actually, who else is tattooing in the shop?” Because you’ve got to have precision.

Jimmy Memento:

You wouldn’t believe it. I was really public about this recent MS attack and the amount of decline in inquiries and the amount of decline in followers was really detrimental to my career. But it was about educating people.

Phil O’Neil:

And you’re not likely, because of your reputation as well, you’re not likely going to put your reputation in somebody’s skin in any kind of situation anyway because you’re a professional. Right?

Jimmy Memento:

That’s it. No, it’s not even about the professionality. It’s about the karma. I can’t mark someone’s skin knowing that I’m going to do a worse job than what I would if I was feeling better on a certain day. I would throw in the towel and reschedule. It’s about coming back in, rehydrating with the right electrolytes, like natural coconut waters and coming in and having three cups of kale and sulfur rich vegetables. You want to start the path of rebuilding your body with the right building blocks.

Phil O’Neil:

Mate, you’re an inspiration to people with MS. So I thank you for that. I wish you only the best for the future, and thanks for being an inspiration to those of us as well and showing us what we can do.

Jimmy Memento:

Yeah, no worries. Thank you, Phil. It’s been great.

Phil O’Neil:

Tell us the website so people can come and find you and come and get some work done.

Jimmy Memento:

Okay. My website is www.jimmymemento, M-E-M, for Mary, E for egg, N for Nelly, T for Tom, O for ostrich dot com.

Voiceover: 

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