'I was planning my wedding. Months before the big day, I lost my sight.'

Months out from my dream wedding in Calabria, the beautiful coastal south of Italy, I started to worry about my health. 

I felt exhausted and lightheaded, but I was planning my wedding, renovating a house, and working full time. Wasn't that enough to exhaust anyone? The only slightly concerning thing was, no matter how much I slept I never felt better.

Thankfully, I had just qualified as a health coach, so I used what I had learned on my course to really start taking care of myself. 

Watch: Selma Blair speaks out about her Multiple Sclerosis (MS) for the first time. Post continues after video.

I didn't realise just how important that knowledge was going to become over the coming months - and for the rest of my life. 

The real nightmare began in May 2023, when, during a meeting with my boss, I completely lost my vision in my left eye. It happened in a matter of seconds, I couldn't even see my boss. 

In a fit of panic, I yelled, "I can't see, I can't see you, I can't see anything." My boss immediately stopped the meeting and my team tried to find me an urgent appointment with an optometrist.

The first question the optometrist asked me was, "do you have any underlying health conditions?" to which I answered no. 

At that appointment, they were unable to get to the bottom of what was going on, so I was sent for urgent scans.

My fiance, who works FIFO, flew in to be at my side. 

In the meantime, after seven long days, my vision returned. But this meant, the urgency of my case was downgraded and I struggled to get an appointment with an ophthalmologist.

Still deeply worried about what was going on with me, I booked in with a GP. Once again, due to my vision returning, he wasn't convinced anything serious was going on.

At this stage, I wasn't willing to leave a doctor's office without answers, so I pushed for a brain MRI, which I was referred for, but had to pay for out of pocket. I didn't care - my gut told me this was the right thing to do. 

Image: Supplied.

I managed to get an appointment two days later, and after the scan, while I waited for the results, I managed to relax for the first time in days.

Then, later that week, my phone rang at 8.30pm. I didn't recognise the number so didn't answer it, but moments later I received a voice message from the doctor asking me to call him urgently. 

I knew if my doctor was calling me at 8.30pm; it wasn't going to be good news. 

Panicking, I dialled the number.

"I have your MRI brain results, he said. "We have found some lesions on your brain and I'm sorry to tell you that you have Multiple Sclerosis (MS)."

He went on to explain that there was a lesion right on my optic nerve which is what caused the vision loss.

"I'm sending you urgently to see a neurologist," the doctor went on. "I'm so sorry to deliver this news."

I couldn't breathe, and my life flashed before my eyes. I didn't know what to expect.

I didn't know that much about MS other than it was a disease that affected the Central Nervous System. 

I knew some sufferers ended up in a wheelchair. Would that be me?

But after taking a few minutes to pick myself, I found an inner strength, and I promised myself, MS would give me more than it would take, whatever that might look like. 

Despite receiving the diagnosis from my GP, my neurologist ordered further tests. I had another full body MRI with contrast, more blood tests, a chest X-ray, and an invasive Lumbar Puncture. The second MRI revealed more lesions, this time on my spinal cord.

I spent the next couple of weeks undergoing more tests than I could have imagined - the Lumbar Puncture really took a toll on me mentally. I went into the procedure knowing it would take six to seven hours in recovery, but what I wasn't prepared for was my collapse as I tried to leave the hospital afterwards. I had to be readmitted for further recovery.

There had been a complication with the procedure and I had to spend the next seven days lying down flat, unable to stand or sit for more than 10 minutes. 

Although it's still early days, living with MS is challenging – I am chronically fatigued, I am significantly weaker, my body is constantly in pain and that's only the beginning. At the moment, no one on the outside would know there is anything wrong with me. The unpredictable nature of MS makes it difficult to predict what my future will look like.

Despite these challenges, my fiance and I have decided to push ahead with our wedding in September. I need to have several IV infusions before my doctor will clear me for the trip, but I'm determined to have my big day the way it was planned.

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I know I have a long journey ahead of me and I will be in treatment for the rest of my life. My community on my Instagram page has given me great purpose and I hope that through my story, struggles and successes I can help others on their journeys through health and wellness.

I am a big believer that every situation thrown at us in life has a purpose and it’s in our hands to decide what to do with it.

You can follow Susanna's journey here.

Feature Image: Supplied.