Susan Crane has been a member of the UK MS Register since 2018 and joined the Register PPIE (Patient and Participant Involvement and Engagement) group in 2022.
Since her diagnosis in 2005 Susan has been very active in the MS community, helping to set up a local group in London (West Central London) and being elected to the MS Society Board of Trustees. She is also a regular fundraiser, and on 8th June Susan took to the air to complete a zip wire challenge at Hangloose Adventure Bluewater.
Despite having a fear of heights, Susan has pushed herself to complete several aerial challenges in the past, including walking across a rope bridge over rapids in New Mexico, parasailing over water, and riding in a hot air balloon. This time though Susan was raising money for two great causes – activities run by her local MS Society group, and the MS Society Stop MS appeal, which is funding much needed research into Myelin Repair and treatments for Primary Progressive MS (PP-MS).
“After locating Waterloo East station and boarding a train to Kent, myself and Glaiza embarked on what felt like a big journey to Greenhithe, the closest station to Bluewater. We were met by Sonia, WCL Admin Volunteer, and her husband. Glaiza and Sonia are experienced zip wire enthusiasts, but this was to be my first experience. I was keen to take part both to challenge my illogical fear of heights, and also to raise funds for the Stop MS Campaign and for WCL.”
“Hangloose zipline is fully accessible, and includes ways to enable people who use wheelchairs to experience the zip wire. Once we arrived, we could see about 20 orange MS Society t-shirts being worn by other “zippers”. We were met and briefed by the MS Society events team and provided with the gear needed to take part – an oversuit which could be attached to the zip wire, a helmet and windproof goggles.”
“The zip wire is over 720 metres long, over 100 metres tall, and to access it we had to climb up a five storey tower – it was at this point I got slight jitters! My nervousness increased when I was asked to lie down on the launch area and was connected to the wire. I just had to accept that this was happening, do my best to ignore any worries, and enjoy the experience. I was a little alarmed that we had to start facing downhill – but that’s what enables users to gain speeds of up to 50mph. The 90 second experience of flying was quite unreal! I enjoyed it so much that I have subsequently signed up for a skydive in 2025 – in time for turning 60.”
Fellow PPIE group member Mark met Susan through our online meetings, and also at MS Society events. Being located not far from Hangloose, Mark and his wife went along on the day to support Susan. They waited patiently along with a dozen other family and friends of MS Society “zippers”. It was nice for Susan and the WCL team to know they had their very own supporters down below encouraging them on.
Susan raised just over £2500 through this event, and her teammates raised a further £1000 between them. We are very proud to have Susan as part of our Brainstormers group, and it’s fantastic to see her raising funds for these important causes. We look forward to seeing what she tackles next!
