“When I finally got answers I thought, now that I know what it is, I can do something about it": Jemma’s story

When Jemma Rose was diagnosed with MS in 2022, her first reaction was relief. Finally, there was an explanation for many of the medical issues she’d been experiencing.

“Around a year before my diagnosis, I had two weeks of blurry vision. I was at work one day and I kept walking into corners, things started getting blurry and I was very confused. I ended up at the hospital and they said, because I’d had a cold, my nerves had inflamed. They gave me some medication and said to come back if it didn’t fix the problem, and that was the end of that,” she recalls.

“I also had a physio trying to fix an injury in my wrist for eight weeks. I had my wrist in a brace, and she couldn’t figure out what was going on, and then suddenly it got better. She had thought I’d maybe dislocated my wrist at some point. When I got diagnosed, I went back to her and said, ‘I think it was actually MS’.”

The diagnosis for the Melbourne-based singer-songwriter, who performs weekly at venues across the city including Dandenong Market, came about due to taking part in a paid medical study.

“They wanted MRIs of my brain and cognitive response tests as part of the study. They found lesions on my MRI and sent it to my GP. My GP thought I had MS but sent me to a neurologist. There were six to eight weeks between seeing the GP and the neurologist and in that time, I had blurry vision for about four weeks and then two or three weeks of double vision. I was diagnosed while my vision was still impacted,” she says.

Jemma had also experienced periods of extreme fatigue during COVID lockdowns, which suddenly she had an answer for.

“I had just blamed my fatigue on lockdown and being lazy. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t even get out of bed and go to work on certain days. I was bedridden once a week at minimum,” she says.

“To this day, I haven’t cried over the fact that I’ve got MS, because now I know what’s going on with my body. The fatigue I was experiencing was impacting my mental health and I kept putting myself down because I wasn’t feeling strong enough.

“So, when I finally got answers I thought, now that I know what it is, I can do something about it.”

Jemma has found a few things that help manage her symptoms – including a natural turmeric extract mixed with vitamin C to fight fatigue, regular massages and weekly gym sessions focused on weightlifting.

“My doctor also gave me an EpiPen-type device that I inject myself with once a month. He followed up with more brain scans and tracks the medication, and he thinks it’s helping me with the bigger symptoms. I haven’t had a vision attack issue since I’ve been on the medication, which is almost two years now.”

Connecting with other people living with MS was also a source of comfort in the immediate months after her diagnosis.

“My mum’s friend has MS, so she put me in a small peer support group that got together for dinner at a pub once a month. Everybody had different symptoms and experiences, but were always happy to talk, provide advice or be there as a friendly support which was always nice.

“The last time I saw my neurologist, he pointed out that I seemed happier. It was obvious my symptoms were better, and my brain scans were clearer. I thought it was nice that he noticed my mood and emotional state, which a lot of doctors don’t really care about, not just my physical state.”

Another thing that Jemma found helped her was her decision to leave her full-time job in sales to focus on her music career.

“It’s obviously nowhere near as physically demanding. Instead of working 30 to 40 hours a week, I can do a couple of gigs and with Centrelink support I make just as much money. I control my own hours and if I need a day off, I can take a day off,” she says.

“I’m fairly new to music in general, I think I sang for the first time in front of my mum in 2018. The first time I performed in front of people was at my grandma’s funeral, which I wanted to do for her and the family.

“After that, I picked up a guitar and started to learn. I went for a few singing lessons to get some confidence and knowledge under my belt. I’m into songwriting and storytelling, I like songs that can take you on a journey and make you feel something.”

Living with MS, Jemma finds strength and expression through songwriting – using music to share resilience, vulnerability, and hope. Her upcoming debut album, Broken Wires, tells that story. The title track is her MS anthem, a song about finding beauty and spark even through the glitches.

Jemma's first single, Broken Wires, is due for release this December. Follow @jemmarosemusic on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook to pre-save the track and stay tuned for album updates and more new music on the way!