- Mum-of-three Claire Jensz, 54 from Coopers Shoot, NSW was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in her late twenties
- When her husband passed away at 48 and she found herself widowed, Claire and their children moved to be closer to her family
- A few years later, she reconnected with her old high school friend John and they fell in love
- In 2024, John’s movie Take My Hand – which is about Claire’s MS as well as their love story – was released on Netflix, Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video
Here Claire shares her story in her own words.
Riding my horse Evie around our property in Coopers Shoot, NSW, I was in my element.
‘Wait for me!’ my husband John, 54, laughed behind me on his horse Goliath.
Coming to a halt by the fencing, we dismounted. Taking in the breathtaking views of the Northern Rivers hinterland, my eyes met John’s. ‘I love you,’ I said, kissing him.
We’d first met in geography class back in 1986, both aged 15. Best friends, we’d hang out at his place after school or grab a bite to eat in town.
After graduating three years later, I travelled the world before I was offered a job at a bank in London.
‘Goodbye,’ I hugged John before jetting off again.
The following year I found love with a man named Mark, then 30. We married four years later.
When I was 28, I was commuting to work on the train when my vision became blurred and I suddenly fell backwards on the platform.
Thankfully I didn’t hurt myself. Just a bit of vertigo, I thought.
‘When I collapsed again, I was rushed to hospital.’
Over the next few weeks though, I had brain fog and double vision, but I put it down to work stress.
When I collapsed again six months later, I was rushed to hospital and had various tests.
‘You have multiple sclerosis,’ a doctor told me gently, explaining it’s an autoimmune condition where the protective covering of nerves breaks down, ultimately leading to trouble with walking, slurred speech and overall numbness.
The strong meds I’d need to take to manage the incurable condition would likely impact my ability to fall pregnant.
Devastated, I was thankful for Mark’s support, especially after I was let go from my job.
I began medication immediately to keep my symptoms at bay.
Mark and I were ecstatic when, aged 31, I fell pregnant via IVF. Our boy James was born in December 2001.
His little brother Scott was born in August 2003 through IVF. Amazingly, baby Charlie followed in February 2005, naturally.
I adored being a mum, but my condition meant I got tired very quickly.
In September 2013, when I was 43, tragedy struck when Mark suffered a fatal heart attack at the gym. He was 48. Heartbroken, the boys, then 12, 10 and eight, and I moved back to Melbourne to be close to family.
One day I received a friend request on Facebook from my high school pal John.
‘‘You haven’t changed a bit,’ he said, after 22 years apart.’
I accepted, but wrapped up in my grief I didn’t think much of it.
Then three years later, he messaged me. I’d love to see you, he wrote.
Flicking through his photos, I was taken by his familiar and handsome face.
Let’s do it, I replied.
When he knocked on the door the next morning, my heart skipped a beat.
It’d been 22 years since I’d last seen him.
‘You haven’t changed a bit,’ he said, despite me leaning on my walking stick.
I caught him up on my life – the boys, Mark, leaving my career, and of course, my MS.
John told me he’d been married and divorced twice, and had a lovely daughter Alex, then 19.
Reconnecting with John, I felt at ease. Over the next five weeks, we spent time together, enjoying dinners at home and long walks.
John felt like home, and the sparks between us were electric. ‘I’ve loved you since we were 15,’ he said after we shared our first kiss soon after.
It took some time for the boys to warm to John, but after he proposed in May 2017, at the school grounds where we first met, they were over the moon.
We tied the knot that December in an intimate ceremony on my sister Jane’s property in Byron Bay, NSW.
By then, my mum Ruth, then in her 70s, had also been diagnosed with the same cursed disease as me.
The following year, John, me and my boys moved to Byron Bay to live a quieter life. It inspired John to start making a record of our love story, and how we’d found our way back to each other.
‘I’d love to turn it into a novel,’ he said one day.
But the more he wrote, the more he realised it was destined for something bigger. At the library, he borrowed a book called How to Write a Screenplay, and for six months, he wrote and re-wrote, before sending it to people in the industry. Incredibly, they loved it and in March 2023 we began working on our film, Take My Hand, with me as executive producer.
‘Watching the movie at the premiere was surreal.’
John and I were ecstatic when it hit cinemas across the country in August 2024.
Watching the movie at the premiere was a surreal moment. People told me it opened their eyes to what it’s like living with MS, and other MS sufferers said they felt seen.
In May of 2024, John and I bought a beautiful property in Coopers Shoot, NSW. It had always been my dream to own horses and we have 17 on the farm. They’re such kind, giving creatures.
‘Our love can conquer all.’
Now, even though my eyesight’s got really bad and taking a step unaided is getting hard, I can gallop like the wind astride my horse Evie. She can walk for me when I can’t.
While our kids, Alex, now 28, James, 23, Scott, 21, and Charlie, 20, are all out of home now, they’re so proud of what we’ve achieved. Sadly, Mum passed away in August 2022, aged 80, but I know she’d be proud too.
I won’t let my disease define me. And I’m so grateful John and I found each other again. Our love can conquer all.
Stream Take My Hand on Prime Video from $6.58/mth, with a 30-day free trial.
Stream Take My Hand on Apple TV+ from $12.99/mth, with a 7-day free trial.
Also streaming on Netflix.
