Key Players 8: Esther

This is the 8th in my 'Key Players' series, which aims to introduce people that travel along and make me who I am.

Esther is my younger sister. Growing up I gave her a hard time, something that I can neither explain nor forgive myself for. Our relationship improved when I moved out from home to go to university and she moved to the USA with my parents.

A dancer, harpist and amazing singer, her (and our...) world was turned on its head just over 3 years ago when she went from a healthy 25 year old to a hospital inpatient overnight. She lost a lot of cognitive function and was unable to count or say the days of the week.

Eventually a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis was made.

Not one to ever give up lightly, she was determined to not let it beat her and she started working really hard on her rehabilitation and after a couple of months she was able to move in with my parents who became her carers for a time. In the midst of all of this, Gina and I got married. It was touch and go whether Esther would make it as she was still in hospital at the time. Thankfully she was allowed out for the day and I was really, really pleased to have her there.

Now, she's recovered all cognitive function and most physical ability (she still has issues with one of her legs), she's back at work 5 days a week, lives in a house share and does what she wants. Just like she used to. I think that she's come to terms with the fact that she has MS and has refocussed her creative energies from dancing to pottery.

And now, here she is on the other side of the world, having spent 4 days on her own sightseeing in Sydney.

We're seeing Swan Lake at the Regent tonight on her instigation, and on the way there she mentioned the irony of a ballet dancer going to the ballet in a wheelchair. She wasn't bitter: just an observation.

She is my sister, and I'm so proud of her.