Ian and Beverly Adler Ontario

Remembering Ricky Adler - in words and deeds

In 1941 London, England was in the midst of the Blitz and a young, 21-year old dress designer decided against her parent's wishes to volunteer as a WAC. She became a mechanic and was ultimately posted to REME and Scotland.

In 1944, the young and vivacious Ricky was discharged from the forces, due to ill health. She had been diagnosed with Disseminated Sclerosis (DS) and was advised at the age of 24, to go home, put her feet up and rest.

Luckily, Ricky didn't take advice well. She returned to London and promptly went to one of the many dances that servicemen and women went to on leave. There she met my father who swept her off her feet.

Her physicians advised her not to get married, but if she did to not have children. Again she didn't follow their advice and by 1951 had two children.

As children, my sister and I didn't know anything was wrong. We ran her ragged. It has only been recently, when I went through some old diaries, that I learned the effect MS had on her at a young age; the constant references to tiredness, the feeling of getting old, and difficulty in coping. Yet to us nothing was wrong.

Still wanting to dance, Ricky went to dances, but complained about numbness and her leg dragged when tired. Occasionally strangers would think her drunk, as the disease did not show physically. But she didn't let it stop her from doing anything.

In 1961, Ricky started a "Beauty for Men" section in my father's barbershop, many years before comparable services opened. But things were also becoming difficult. In 1962, 18 years after the diagnosis, MS began to get the upper hand. Ricky regressed from no aids to a cane, then a walker and finally a wheelchair.

During this period we lived in Brighton, England, and we were quite a sight as I often took Mum out in her chair through the many hilly streets. I would occasionally tell her to get out and push (we received many quizzical stares) or I would tell her to walk up the stairs, no lift, to our flat. Soon this too was not possible.

Her indomitable spirit never left her and she fought MS with a passion. Mum passed away in 1969, 25 years after diagnosis.

With a gift in our Will, we are honouring Ricky Adler while we also hope for a time when the MS Society can say, "no longer required."