TM Support Group of Egypt and the Middle East
Mahmoud Abdel Moety Hassan

As English is not my first language, I would ask for your understanding in reading my article. My name is Mahmoud Abdel Moety Hassan. I live in Alexandria, Egypt. I am 23 years old and I am a B.Sc. student in the marine engineering department in the faculty of engineering Alexandria University.

My story with TM started on Tuesday, June 24 th 2003. It was half past eleven in the morning. We had just finished the third year exams and we were gathering at the college (me and a group of my friends) to discuss some issues related to the fourth year (B.Sc.) graduation projects. It was during this meeting that I started to feel an intense and strange pain in my left foot. I suspected that something was very wrong. The pain in my left foot then decreased, but moved to my right foot. The intensity of this pain was greater and so I asked my friends to immediately take me to the hospital.

Unfortunately, the doctors in that hospital failed to understand what was going on with me. I stayed in this hospital for an hour during which time I lost all feeling in both legs from below my knees. I was only able to stand by being supported by my friends. I finally decided to go to another hospital. I entered the other hospital in a wheelchair. I was nearly paralyzed below my waist. At this hospital they diagnosed what I had as a psychological case. I was so disappointed and frustrated.

My friends and my brother decided to take me out of this hospital. One of my friends suggested that they take me to a brain and neurology specialist. They took me to this doctor about an hour and a half after I left the second hospital. The doctor examined me and said that it may be psychological or it may be something in my spinal cord. As I am a student, he moved me to the student’s hospital.

During a period of about a week in this hospital and with the necessary MRI and scans, I was diagnosed with TM. I’ve been in the hospital ever since. I am able to leave the hospital at times to attend some of the lectures and sometimes to be with my friends. My family, friends, and professors and instructors at college have never made me feel that I am sick. They treat me as if I am perfectly normal.

One of the strange things that occurred before I got TM is that I felt that something was going to happen to me. I recall that I told my mother that I feel that something really great will bring me down, but that God will help me in the end; even though I had no reason to suspect anything at the time.

Having TM has been very difficult. I have been communicating with Sandy for the past few months, and have decided to start a support network for the countries of the Middle East. If you are interested in getting involved, please get in touch with me. I have set up a web page for our support group under the link ‘support groups’ on the TMA web site. Having others to share our experiences with will be a great help for all of us. We can also help each other find resources in our countries, help each other find physicians who understand TM and who understand how to treat the symptoms of TM. Please feel free to get in touch with me.

Mahmoud Abdel Moety Hassan

Bahnasi

1 Minufiya Street Elhadara Elkebliya

Alexandria , Egypt

203-4261912

eng_mahmoudabdelmoety[AT SIGN]islamway.net