MAFS star Jay Howard shares one factor that ‘modified her life’ amidst well being battle

Jay Howard, the first ever disabled cast member on Married At First Sight UK, has opened up about a ‘nightmare’ health incident that took place seven years ago

TV star Jay Howard has bravely spoken out about a particularly ‘dark time’ in her life, when she suffered from a lesser-known injury. The 32-year-old, who was the first disabled participant on E4’s Married At First Sight, revealed that she was unable to feed herself during this period and feared she had multiple sclerosis (MS).

“I had to have an MRI scan and everything because they thought I had MS,” she recalled in an exclusive interview with the Mirror. “It was a big thing, it went on for over 12 months. I was in and out of work… it was a horrible time for me.

“[The doctors] kept coming back saying ‘this is fine and that’s fine’, and I was like, ‘well, it isn’t because I can’t move it’. I can’t even lift a brew up without dropping the cup.

“It took ages, I kept having to go to A&E. My mum had to take me all the time. My mum was really upset, [it was a] really dark time for her because my doctor basically put it into her head that I might have MS, so I needed an MRI.

“That made me think, ‘oh god, if it is, then what are we going to do?’, because my mum was like ‘I’m going to have to take care of you [24 hours a day]’. It was bad, but it came out that it wasn’t. So, I’m alright.”

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Almost 10 years ago, it was finally confirmed that Jay was suffering from a repetitive strain injury – or RSI. Generally, this refers to pain, throbbing, swelling or numbness in one part of the body caused by repeating the same movements over and over.

Jay was grappling with severe cramping in her right arm, a situation exacerbated by the fact she was born without part of her other arm, rendering everyday tasks and her sales job nearly impossible.

She recounted: “I had a right nightmare with it because I kept getting repetitive strain. And my hand went completely for like three months and my mum was having to dress me and everything, feed me and all that kind of stuff.”

Despite endless hospital visits and enduring procedures such as nerve conduction, she eventually discovered a solution that ‘changed her life’. Remarkably, this turned out to be a one-handed keyboard, carefully designed for individuals with one hand, like herself.

“All turned out it was because I was straining my fingers by using normal keyboards,” she said. “We got one, I’ve not had a problem since. It’s been brilliant and it’s actually changed my life, I’ve not had to go to any more hospital appointments, I’ve not had it ceasing up, it’s not been cramping.”

Although her repetitive strain injury (RSI) still acts up in cold weather, it no longer plagues her everyday life. In light of this, Jay is now eager to raise awareness of the unique challenges faced by individuals with limb differences and disabilities.

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In November, she co-hosted a first-of-its-kind ITV chat show, Unfiltered Women, alongside Samantha Renke and Fats Timbo to lift the lid on everything and anything about living with a disability. She’s also an ambassador for limb difference charity Reach and is now hosting public speaking events in businesses, schools and workplaces.

Aside from one-handed keyboards, she encourages employers to consider numerous other simple workplace changes for varying accessibility needs. This could be anything from using coloured paper to accommodate for people with dyslexia, to elevators for individuals with mobility difficulties.

The Accrington-born star continued: “It’s not like ‘what’s wrong with your office’, more of an open chat about it. It could be something as simple as, you’ve got two candidates wanting the job. One of them is a non-disabled person [and the other is] a disabled person, but the disabled person is more qualified.

“But you haven’t got a lift for them – and it could be something as simple as that. It’s just getting to the office to do the job effectively, it puts the disabled person at a disadvantage.

“…When I went into a business that I did a talk with, the HR department actually came up to me afterwards and they said… ‘You know what? I didn’t know half of the stuff you said, but I’m so glad that you mentioned it because we’re actually going to go away now and put that into effect’.”

Later, she added: “There’s not enough awareness on it.”

Have you got a story to share? Get in touch, at lauren.haughey@reachplc.com