My Life as a Fighter/ Trainer With MS.

This summer, 2017, I was finally diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, although my first hospitalisation with the illness was way back in 2013, when for no apparent reason, I lost feeling and had pins and needles all through the entire left side of my body. I spent a week or more in neurology, where they performed a spinal tap, an MRI, and a whole bunch of blood tests, but after a lot of steroids via a drip, and too many days in, I checked myself out of the joint and went back to work and training. And I'm glad I did. I had no idea what was ''wrong'' with me, so I continued life as normal. The recovery took about a month, and although I still had some crazy symptoms, I didn't let them get in my way. Not waiting around to hear the diagnosis, or to even give the doctors time to figure it out, was a good choice. It may seem silly to some, but I know now it was the right thing to do. The next 4 years were to be some of the most productive and epic years of my life.

I went on to fight all of the toughest guys in my weight, in Muay Thai and kickboxing. I left the gym that I started teaching at, and created my own gym. I trained every Muay Thai fighter in Karlskrona and never missed a fight, working the corner for every single one of them. I taught up to 15 classes every week and was the only B-Class, Semi Pro Muay Thai fighter in the city and surrounding areas. All of this between running my own business as a landscaper/ gardener, or working hard labour type jobs, even at one stage, working night shift as a janitor/ security guard at an asylum home for 500 adult refugees, alone, mind you. This shit wasn't a walk in the park. As a result of my fights, I made a lot of contacts in the Muay Thai world in Sweden. That was the best thing for me, as it helps me so much more now in my job as a trainer. I was fortunate to always fight the best guys, in both Sweden and Denmark, including 3 Danish Champions in 3 weight classes, the Swedish K1 Champion, a world WKA Muay Thai champion, and some notable professionals. I got to fight on and to even headline some of Scandinavia's biggest shows, which was an absolute dream for an old Aussie bloke who once thought his fight career was a thing of the past. And so it was this year I found myself back in the old sick house again. My visit wasn't a very nice experience, and I was so ill that I slept maybe 18 hours a day just trying to recover from the ''relapse''. I couldn't walk (well, not many steps, and with extremely bad balance), couldn't control my eyes, and went through stages where I lost my hearing and blah blah blah. I could go into detail about the struggles I've had and still have every day with this illness, but that's some boring stuff. You get the picture. MS can be fairly brutal. And well, being a 37 year old guy with MS, and having so many responsibilities, I decided to sensibly retire from ring fighting. I love getting in that ring, but it's not my place any more. I retired a winner, and even though I lost most my fights here in Sweden and Denmark, I'm proud of what I accomplished.