Hi, my name’s Tina Marie Evans, I’m 32 years old and born and bred in the Gwendraeth Valley, West Wales.  At the age of 16 I noticed something was up with my balance, I’d walk into friends and I found it hard to keep my balance whilst closing my eyes to pray in assembly.  After some doctor appointments and a few tests I was given the diagnosis, Friedreich’s Ataxia.  We had never heard of this rare condition, and being the typical Tina, at the time, I told my parents to do what they had to, I didn’t want to know, and just carried on with life.

I finished high school with three A-levels and went onto Aberystwyth University where I studied Theatre, Film and TV, made some amazing friends and had the best three years.  I would consider myself to be more practical than academic, but due to increasingly losing my balance I was forced to stop acting and take on the behind the scenes role.  I’m a positive person, and one of my key abilities is to see the positive in every situation.  Having some experience in researching landed me my first job with BBC Wales as a researcher for the Education department then with Radio Cymru.

Working in Cardiff prompted my move to Cardiff, I lived here for 7 years and grew as a person. Before moving to Cardiff I had to battle with my pride on whether to give in to the wheelchair,, at the time ‘giving in’ is what it felt like.  But I quickly became to realise that it was the best decision I could’ve made.  Doing the small things like going to town or walk with friends became hard work due to tiredness and slowly my confidence dropped, but the wheelchair gave me back the freedom to get around and slowly brought back my confidence, it actually made me feel more able.