‘I longed to play the Bach violin double with my daughter – but then I got MS’

When multiple sclerosis began to affect her fine motor skills, Shakira Hussein found a way to redesign her dream, rather than give it up altogether At first, I failed to recognise the significance of the deterioration in my violin technique. I was preoccupied by other concerns – the crushing exhaustion that I would describe to my doctors as “not normal tiredness”, the unexplained falls from my bike. I did not draw any connection between these issues and my out-of-tune violin playing. Only whe...

By Shakira Hussein