MS Ambassador
Morwenna Collett
Morwenna maintains a positive attitude about living with MS, it is something that she has been living with for eight and a half years now and it has certainly had a major affect on her life and the decisions she has had to make. Morwenna says she is one of the lucky people who has no outward signs of the illness and is able to manage it very well.
From the age of ten, Morwenna was determined to become a professional flute player and was eventually accepted into the Queensland Conservatorium of music after a lot of hard work. Due to her MS, Morwenna's life isn't suited to the demands of playing in a professional orchestra, which was her initial goal. However in her recent employment in Arts Queensland she has developed a love of arts administration and has been able to assist other artists in reaching their potential whist still being able to play and teach the flute as a hobby.
In grade six at Primary School, Morwenna woke up one morning and was unable to see. After multiple doctor visits, she was put in hospital for about a week and had all sorts of tests including a CAT scan, MRI scan and a lumbar puncture- all very scary for a ten year old. Various diagnoses were raised, including a brain tumour. Morwenna was put on steroids and eventually her eye sight returned and it was thought to be a virus.
Morwenna had recovered and it wasn't until the age of 18, days before her end of year exams in her first year of university that similar symptoms returned. For several days her vision flickered until complete sight in her left eye was gone. After visiting a range of doctors, the possibility of multiple sclerosis was raised and Morwenna was referred to a neurologist who confirmed the diagnosis after many more tests over several months. By this time Morwenna also had difficulty with the muscles in her arms and hands and found it difficult to play the flute- her specialist instrument in her bachelor of music degree. In the months after her diagnosis, Morwenna's eye sight partially retuned as well as the strength in her upper body. It appeared that she had the relapsing remitting form of MS.
Morwenna's determination to continue with her life long dreams and extremely hard work in overcoming the obstacles and challenges created by MS eventually resulted in her graduating with honours at the top of her year, winning the university medal and a post graduate scholarship to complete her Masters degree. The demand of this degree meant Morwenna was often at the absolute limit of her physical ability due to the fatigue from her MS, but her determination and passion allowed Morwenna to be innovative about choosing the pieces for her recitals as well as producing a DVD instead of performing a live solo for one of her Masters.
Even though the logistics of having MS has restricted Morwenna's passion to study and further her career overseas for an extended period, Morwenna has been on several short trips to study with world renowned flute teachers. One of these trips was funded by the MS Australia Go For Gold Scholarship program which she was awarded in 2007. This scholarship provided the funds for Morwenna to undertake travel in London, Spain and New York for an intensive month of study with three of the worlds leading contemporary flute specialists.
Morwenna has recently relocated to NSW and maintains a positive attitude describing herself as happy and healthy. Having been a very active MS Ambassador in QLD, we are now extremely fortunate to have Morwenna as a member of our fantastic NSW Ambassador team.