Welcome to Living Well with MS Coffee Break #33, where we are pleased to turn the tables and welcome our very own very own podcast host Geoff Allix as our guest!   Our Coffee Break series is your chance to get to know members of our diverse OMS community. In each episode, you’ll join Geoff Allix for an intimate chat with a different member of our global community. Our guests will share their personal stories and talk about their challenges and victories, large and small. We hope you find common cause and a source of inspiration from the stories of these very special people. As always, your comments and suggestions are always welcome by emailing podcast@overcomingms.org.   Welcome to Living Well with MS Coffee Break, and I am NOT Geoff Allix. I’m Alex Twersky, and I am the creator and producer of the Living Well with MS podcast series. And I’ve been proud to work with Geoff Allix from day 1 as our intrepid host since the show’s launch all the way through two spinoffs – Coffee Break and Ask Jack – and now 4 seasons. So why am I the one narrating this episode and not Geoff? Well, let’s find out.   Geoff’s Bio:   Geoff Allix hails from Devon in England and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2015. Geoff's father also had MS, and sadly died at the age of 54. When he himself was diagnosed, Geoff was determined to do whatever he could to remain well. Once he was told that he "almost certainly" had MS in May 2015, he and his wife launched into action. They Googled as much as they could about the condition. Shortly before Geoff was formally diagnosed in September 2015, they came across Overcoming MS and the 7-Step Recovery Program. He has been on the program since then, and, although his walking has gotten worse, he’s certain that the Overcoming MS program is critical to maintaining his wellbeing. Geoff works as computer consultant and is a dad to two children. Geoff serves as co-ambassador to Overcoming MS’s South West Circle and hosts the Living Well with MS podcast.    Questions:   Geoff, welcome to the other side of Living Well with MS Coffee Break. OMS is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and our podcast will mark its 100th episode this August. So this time around, we thought having you in the hot seat would allow some of our fans old and new to get to know more about you. Since the purpose of this series is to better get to know the diverse members of our community from around the world, who better than you to fit that bill. Many of our audience knows you as the podcast host, but there’s so much more to your service to the OMS community, and we’ll get to that, but for the moment, can you tell us a little about your day-to-day life in the UK, in Devon? When were you diagnosed with MS? Can you provide some context on that? When were you diagnosed and how did you initially deal with it? At which point did you come across the OMS program? How was that experience for you? Why did you decide to start following it? Many of our audience know you as the host of this podcast from its very inception, but you also serve the OMS community in many other ways. Let’s start by learning more about your work as an Ambassador for the OMS Circle in Devon. Tell us a little about that, how you got involved and what this work has meant to you and your local community? Speaking of local community, you also recently represented OMS at Delamore Art, an exhibition where OMS was one of the featured charities. Can you tell us a bit about that? You celebrated a birthday recently, and you did something a little outlandish to celebrate life but also raise money for OMS. What death-defying feat was that Geoff? Just wanted to take a quick pause to make a couple of announcements that may be of interest to our community. The OMS Big Picnic is coming up again in July. This is a great event for members of our global community to organize their own picnics worldwide featuring OMS friendly cuisine. You can learn more about it on our website at overcoming