Sheffield's Weston Park Dr Claire Mills' multiple sclerosis diagnosis turns to triumph in Himalaya trek

At one stage it left her in bed for two years, and then unable to walk without help – but the indomitable doc is now set to climb the Himalayas to make sure others can receive the help and support that she has.

Claire, from the Rivelin Valley, is a 59-year-old breast cancer doctor at Sheffield’s Weston Park Hospital. Born in Jessop’s hospital in Sheffield, Claire grew up in Cardiff before returning to study medicine at the University of Sheffield.

She has spent her whole career serving others within the city’s NHS in Sheffield, the city where she first graduated as a doctor – a career interrupted for over a decade by a life-changing diagnosis of MS.

But in October, Claire will attempt to climb the Himalayas to Annapurna Base Camp. She is funding the trip herself. Every penny she raises will go to extending the life enhancing treatment she received so more people can be helped. Her target is £12,500, a pound for every day since her diagnosis.

She said: “By rights, I shouldn’t be doing this challenge. I should have poor mobility or be in a wheelchair by now. I have relapsing remitting Multiple Sclerosis, which was first diagnosed 35 years ago.

Annapurna Base Camp

"I am going to walk in the Himalayas in October. I will climb to 4,130 meters with sherpas carrying oxygen and walk for six to ten hours a day until I reach Annapurna Base Camp.

"The total ascent is over 7,000m. This will be an enormous physical challenge as I confront altitude and need stamina. Although the distances don’t frighten me, I am concerned I have never attempted a long trek, walking and climbing day after day.”

HEALTH: Sheffield nurse, 22, reveals impact of multiple sclerosis diagnosis

Claire, then an energetic final year medical student, had her my first bout of MS in 1987. Symptoms started with double vision, unsteadiness on her feet, vertigo and paralysis of some of her eye movements. Facing the initial shock of the diagnosis, she had steroids and two months off, but was determined to graduate with all her fellow students and so she worked hard to catch up and sit finals in 1988 – before starting working as a junior doctor.

Within a few years, she had another bout of MS and this time found it much harder to bounce back. She had a demyelinating brain stem encephalitis and spent two years in bed.

Her career was put on hold, but there was a possibility it would be over. MS made her future very uncertain, and it was a dark period realising she was facing a life of disability and fatigue.

HEALTH: Service offers real benefit to MS sufferers

She said: “I slowly crawled back to a measure of health that enabled me to resume my career, working part time and spending a long time resting in between. Gradually I got stronger, discovering that if I rested frequently and conserved my energy levels, I could continue to work. However, during my long period of ill health, I reassessed the important things in my life and decided I wanted a baby.

“I went back to work after my daughter Abigail was born, but quickly realised that I could not keep well, look after her and go to work. I felt that the only thing that could go was my career, so I took the difficult decision to lay down the vocation I loved.”

Her son Christopher arrived four years later, and for a decade Claire was a stay-at-home mum. She never thought she could get back to working as a doctor and so poured her energy into her family and staying as well as she could.

She had relapses most years, but on the whole managed to bounce back, though she never shook off the fatigue. Her husband also worked in the NHS, so they had a series of au pairs living with them, to allow Claire to rest.

Sadly in 2005, her marriage broke down and her health again took a nose-dive with the stress.

She said: “I had six relapses in the following year, which reduced my mobility. At my worst, I couldn’t drive and was walking painfully slowly with two elbow crutches. The MS was progressing rapidly, leaving me facing a future of permanent disability.

Sheffield’s Hallamshire Hospital’s Dr Basil Sharrock

“It was at this lowest point, my neurologist at Sheffield’s Hallamshire Hospital – Dr Basil Sharrock – advised a new treatment. It was a course of chemotherapy given to try and stop the rapid decline of my immune system. I had five of six cycles of treatment before I became too ill to complete the course. Nevertheless, in the 16 years since that day, the amazing thing is that I have not had another relapse since.

My MS has been halted and my health has gone from strength to strength. I now work full time and enjoy long walks each weekend with my partner and local Ramblers group. People who don’t know my history would not know I had any health problems. Well, they didn’t before the pandemic.”

When Covid hit, Claire was advised to shield and so her condition became more widely known as she spent the first wave working from home. She had chosen to keep her health history private until then, but now it was out there in the public arena. She wanted people to see her, not her MS diagnosis, so she hadn’t told the people she worked with about her condition. But she is now at peace with it being known.

She said: “The treatment I had here in Sheffield gave me my life back. Now I have set myself a huge personal physical challenge before I hit 60 to help other people with MS have the same chance of benefiting too.

StarMS trial stem cell transplant research

"I am funding the travel myself, so I can guarantee every single penny I raise towards my target – a pound for each day since that life-changing diagnosis – will directly support the ongoing research into the immunotherapy and StarMS trial stem cell transplant research which is being led by a team from Sheffield. The other half of all money raised will support the trials being funded by the MS society through the Stop MS appeal.

“This treatment brings real hope to the 130,000 people living with MS in the UK*- that’s 1 in every 500 people- with another 6700 hearing this diagnosis every year.

To keep motivated during the pandemic, Claire wrote a list of 60 things to do before she was 60. She started off with a target of just £1,000, but knowing the enormous physical challenge this would be, her children and partner have encouraged her to think big to motivate herself on every gruelling step, knowing she is making more impact for others.

"That’s why I have set myself the tough target of raising a pound for every day I have had MS, which is around £12,500,” she said. “Anything people donate towards that will spur me on and be amazing.”

Friend and walking companion Sarah Massey

“My friend and regular walking companion Sarah Massey, who is from Hillsborough and manages the Children’s Hospital library, will be climbing with me for support and safety. I am very grateful to all who donate on my Go Fund Me page, and I will be posting photographs and updates throughout my challenge this October.”

Log onto https://www.gofundme.com/ to donate. Her page is titled Multiple Sclerosis research.