Yorkshire-based PGA Professional walks 100 kilometres for charity

We’ve all heard of Multiple Sclerosis but not many of truly understand the meaning of it. Yorkshire’s Ben Mason, who played for 10 years on the European Tour, now knows the true extent of the illness.

In November 2021 his wife, Joanna, was diagnosed with the condition. She was under investigation with Neurology from February 2021 then began another relapse in June 2021, she has never fully recovered and her symptoms are now more permanent. She has had to finish her job as a drama teacher and she will now have infusion therapy every six months.

“I didn’t understand MS until my wife got diagnosed with it and we’re still learning. They call it the snowflake disease as every person who has it is different, they all have different symptoms depending on whereabouts the lesions are in the body,” explains Mason who reached a career-high world ranking of 255.

“The immune system starts attacking the body and destroys the myelin which is the protective coating around the nerve fibres in the central nervous system. Unless you are involved with somebody who has MS you wouldn’t know much about it. My wife and I could go out and nobody would know that she had it but, when you get home, you soon would do with the fatigue. She’s able to put a brave face on and she looks fine but, after doing the school run, she will need to sit down for a couple of hours.”

Last week was MS Awareness Week and Mason completed walking 100 kilometres to raise money for his local MS Society (Sheffield and Rotherham).

“I was looking to find a way to raise some money and I considered entering a marathon but my knees won’t allow me to do that! Then I saw on social media that people who were living with MS would be walking 50 kilometres in May and that gave me the idea to do the 100 kilometres which was something that was achievable but would also push me.”

Luckily for Mason he’s been able to use his job to get his steps in, with rounds at his home club, Rotherham and a Clutch Pro Tour event at Drayton Park helping to nudge him towards his century.

“I walked the course the night before which was a good excuse and I’ve got a full day’s teaching which will slow things down a bit. But I’ve got a round at Brough and my car’s being serviced so I’ll have to walk everywhere on that day. Then we found some different ways to keep me walking and we've managed to raise over £1000 (and counting).”

When Joanna received the diagnosis she reached out to the Rotherham/Sheffield group to get some support but they had disbanded during Covid so it no longer existed. They were looking for a group co-ordinator and she took that on and is now in the process of re-organising a lot of things like a Friday exercise meet up where a physical trainer will put them through their paces whether they are in wheelchairs or not.

“It helps to keep them moving, keep the heart rate up and it’s a nice get-together as well where they can tell their own story. It can feel like you’re on your own with it at times.”

For the family of four, they have two boys Billy (9) and Oli (5), it has been an understandable period of adjustment but one that the family has met together.

“The kids have had to be quite understanding when their mum’s not in a good place. Obviously I’ll try and step up but the kids just seem to understand that Joanna can’t do the things that they want her to do at times. They’ve been fantastic.”

CLICK HERE to visit Ben Mason's Justgiving page.

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