Me,fnd and family

5th January 2026

Before my fnd diagnosis i worked as a Bricklayer for 25 year's in the construction industry before moving on to another venture in maintenance manager in a fast paced environment working 12 hr shifts 7 days a week, money was great, holidays every year my wife and boy's we are a happy settled family, in my teens and some of my adult life I was keen in most sport but mostly boxing as can imagine it comes with challenges like all sport,
Fast forward march 2024 after a short battle with stage 4 lung cancer my father passed we we're all broken, trying to keep it together for the kids and help mum come to terms with loosing her husband, father, grandad. meanwhile my coping mechanism was work long days long nights the more i done the less I thought about it, work started becoming stressful but I stuck at it as I had a family to provide for. months leading up to xmas was never going to be easy without dad being around, mum had a routine check up at the opticians as she was struggling with a spot in the corner of her eye they referred her to the hospital, prescribed cream keep an eye on it if it gets worse come back and see me in 5 days it slowly got worse they then gave her a biopsy,few days later we get the news mum has skin cancer they need to check if it has spread to other parts of her body not only was it in her skin it had spread through her organs aswel.
Christmas morning we get a phone call from the hospital baring in mind we we're in visiting the night before we spoke with the doctors they were to let mum out for few hours to come for Xmas lunch and to see the boys but cancer had other plans, at least she's not in pain anymore and she's with dad, yep two parents in 6 months lost to cancer😢what do I do😥that's what I'll do go back to work same again 12hr shifts 7 days a week starting getting like shaking but put it down to over worked not enough sleep then started the sudden jerking tremors, muscle weakness again surely its just tiredness my line manager was onsite when he noticed me shaking and asked if everything is ok I said yeh maybe a bit tired but I'll be fine he mentions that there is a job coming up away from home and that he wants me to oversee and to think about it, I wasted no time and excepted his offer it was for 4 weeks working on an island where you only get to by boat or plane no WiFi signal no phone signal until you get back to your hotel at night where you then have to send emails order materials check staff whilst having meetings the tremors were coming more frequently, memory loss, fatigue, low mood, i lasted the 4 weeks and when returning i made an appointment at the doctors he done a few tests and could clearly see my tremors he asked about my past and what had changed recently when I gave him a brief description he referred me for rehab physio and neurologist 49 weeks waiting list and numerous hospital visits with seizures, paralysis can't walk can't talk what is happening to me😢 i finally met with my neurologist and it was then he said you have a condition called fnd its disability condition where you have a soft ware issue in the brain I asked how has this came about no one in my family has neurological issues he then explained your body and brain has been traumatised with everything you have been through in such a short time and that everyone's body reacts differently to stress and trauma ok I replied what happens from here sadly there's not much we can do about fnd and very little information about it, gave me a leaflet and told me he'll see me in 6 months, my world has just collapsed i have 2kids and wife at home how do I tell them? How do I tell work? What am I going to do for money if I can't work?all these questions and no answers, started getting other symptoms hands and feet dystopia losing speech more frequent seizures at this point i was done i didn't have the fight anymore many tearful conversations with my wife and doctors i finally got an appointment with an psychiatrist who slowly broke everything down for me me to understand I'm getting stronger everyday now and my mentality has changed now I am a fnd warrior, I am who I am, unique maybe but it will never get me down again everyday is a learning day