I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 33, then Parkinson’s disease.

At first glance, you wouldn’t know that Emma Tinkler lives with two incurable illnesses that require constant monitoring and medication.

The Sydney mother-of-two was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the age of 33 and Parkinson’s disease 15 years later, at 48.

“Many people think that Parkinson’s disease is an 80-year-old disease that only affects men, but that is not the case. Young women understand this too,” she told FEMAIL.

Emma’s health problems began in 2005, shortly after returning from her honeymoon, when she began to feel tingling in her fingers.

She wasn’t worried and ignored the symptoms for a week before going to see her GP. The test results came back clear and Emma assumed everything was fine, so she canceled her next appointment.

It wasn’t until 2010, when she felt a “waterfall in the eyes”, numbness in her toes and noticed her handwriting was shaky, that she decided to go to the doctor.

What the doctor said next was something she didn’t expect.

“In the worst case scenario, it could be MS,” the GP told him, before sending him to hospital for further tests.

The following week, she had an MRI which confirmed the worst: she had MS.

The diagnosis was a real shock. Emma has no family history of illness and she planned to have children with her then-husband.

MS sees the body’s immune system attack and damage nerves throughout the body. It is most often diagnosed in women aged 20 to 40.

This can lead to serious symptoms because the signals sent to the brain are affected. Symptoms include inability to walk properly, loss of hand and arm function, pain, vision changes, and memory loss.

Fortunately, Emma’s side effects were minimal and she continued to live normally before having two children, daughters Elodie and Aggie.

“I checked a lot of boxes for MS. I was a woman in my early 30s and three out of four patients diagnosed with MS are women,” she said.

Flash-forward to 2019 and Emma noticed strange things happening to her body. During a yoga retreat, her legs started shaking. Then another time, his left foot seemed “floppy” and was difficult to lift while walking.

At first, doctors had no idea what was causing the symptoms and thought it was a functional neurological disorder (FND).

As there are no FND medications, Emma underwent physiotherapy and psychology sessions and was hospitalized for several weeks, but her symptoms worsened.

It wasn’t until she got a second opinion from another neurologist that she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, at the age of 48.

Within 18 months Emma was walking perfectly well, she now needed a cane and eventually a mobility scooter.

“One of my hands was constantly shaking, the other felt like all my fingers were stuck together. I couldn’t text, I couldn’t eat properly, I couldn’t hold a burger or a cup of tea, I wasn’t in good shape,” she said.

Emma was prescribed medication and within days she noticed a drastic difference.

“At Christmas I tied my shoelaces and sent a photo to my mom… it was amazing,” Emma said through tears.

“After the holidays, I went to my daughter’s school and was able to walk to reception. The woman in the office started crying because the last time she was with me I was in a mobility scooter. It was a precious moment.

“The support I have received around me from friends, family and the NDIS has been incredible. I couldn’t have done it without them.

Despite everything she has been through, Emma considers herself lucky that she and other Australian patients have access to medication.

But she is aware that there is still a long way to go to find a cure.

“I am so passionate about Parkinson’s disease advocacy. It is the fastest growing neurological disease in the world, and yet many people do not know what it is.

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“As I descended the slope extremely slowly, my children made the journey with me.

“When I told them I had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, they didn’t know what that meant, so I explained it to them. But now the tricky part is the unpredictability of it all.

Since MS and Parkinson’s disease have no cure, Emma must manage her symptoms with medication.

She can go from feeling flat and walking with a cane to having a more springy step after taking her medication.

Emma shares her story in support of Shake It Up Australia. To donate to research, click here.