Research helping MS sufferers in Staines

The project is being funded by the MS society, which Tracy is a member of, with the aim of finding out how exercise effects sufferer's mobility and motor control.

Tracy said: "Everyone with MS is different so it is really good to be able to do this knowing that others are taking an interest to let sufferers benefit. It's nice to be treated as a person instead of an illness."

Tracy has been visiting the gym for the past nine weeks where she uses an exercise bike for 10 minutes in short bursts on Tuesdays and Thursdays while the researchers study her health levels.

There are nine other people taking part, some of who cannot walk at all, and who are all undergoing differing schemes.

Tracy said: "Most people with MS gradually deteriorate, so I have decided to be really strong and do a lot of exercise so I don't become as severe as I used to. I use a wheelchair when I go out, but I can still walk around the house, and walk into shops from a car, so its good to know I can still exercise."

Tracy regularly goes to the gym anyway, and tries to eat as healthily as possible to reduce her ailments.

She was first diagnosed with the disease when she gave birth to her first born Ben at age 27.

Tracy said: "I was bed ridden for two years and couldn't do anything, but I slowly started to recover. I remember feeling a bit strange when I was a teenager, and when I was 17 I lost my sight for two weeks. But when I had Ben I relapsed and they diagnosed me with the illness."

Tracy, who runs two monthly outings in Staines for MS sufferers, says she will carry on with her programme after the research is finished