IN her 20s, Alison Dobson was a feisty character with a wicked sense of humour and a love of the outdoors.

But, by the age of 40, she was confined to a wheelchair, able to communicate only by blinking and being fed through a tube.

Alison’s body had been ravaged by multiple sclerosis, a condition affecting about 85,000 people in the UK.

Now, following her death at the age of 42, her parents and widower want to raise awareness of the realities of a condition that remains something of a mystery.

Alison’s mother Christine Matthews, who lives with husband Gerry on Heathwood Drive, Golcar, said: “People should know how debilitating this disease is and how much research is needed. Most people don’t know how it takes everything away.

“By the end Alison couldn’t do anything for herself. Her mind was healthy, but her body was like a straitjacket.”

MS is a neurological condition resulting from damage to the central nervous system.

It causes messages between the brain and other parts of the body to break down.

Scientists are not sure exactly what causes it.

Alison, who had been a supply teacher at schools including Honley High, King James, Salendine Nook High and Colne Valley High, first started to experience symptoms in about 1994.

Twinges in her arms and pains in her feet were followed by problems with her balance. Eventually she struggled to grip a pen for prolonged periods at school.

Her widower, Jack, of Lower Hall Crescent, Lascelles Hall, said: “It weakens the information from the brain. Your brain could be telling you to move your arm and instead you move your leg.”

Following an MRI scan, Alison was diagnosed with MS on September 12, 1995, Jack’s birthday.

Gerry said: “There was a suggestion it could have been a tumour and that was my biggest fear. Christine rang me to tell me it was MS and I almost felt a sense of relief that it wasn’t a tumour.

“In retrospect she could have had more of a chance if it had been.”

Alison quickly gave up work and started sleeping downstairs because she couldn’t climb stairs.

In 1997 she started using a wheelchair and eventually became housebound.

Jack, who was 21 years older than Alison, said: “We used to joke that she would have to push me around in a chair eventually. But in the end it was the other way round.”

By 2004 Alison was starting to slur her words and within a year had completely lost the power of speech.

Gerry said: “She would blink or nod or shake her head to communicate.

“She liked to be in the middle of the conversation. Her brain was as sharp as a tack. She had a perfect brain in a faulty body.”

Because she was unable to swallow, food had to be passed into her stomach through a tube.

But the family said she still managed to smile.

Gerry: “I’ve never known a braver person. I would want my mates to take me and throw me off a mountain, but Alison was so positive.”

After repeated hospital visits, Alison was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with various health problems on August 11 and slept for the next five days. Doctors told the family on the 17th that she may not survive.

She died from pneumonia three days later.

A devout Christian, her funeral at New North Road Baptist Church was attended by about 200 people.

Christine said: “She was such an example to such a lot of people.”

A spokesman for the MS Society said:

“MS can be a devastating and at times isolating condition and the MS Society exists to provide support to everyone affected.

“But our work is only possible thanks to the generosity of our members and supporters and the thousands of volunteers who give up their time.”

Alison’s family have set up a fund for donations to the MS Society. Send cheques, payable to the Alison Jane Anne Dobson Star Fund, to: MS Society, 372 Edgware Road, London, NW2 6ND.