Joanna Moorhead speaks with Jane Hawking, the former wife and long term carer of the most famous person with Motor Neuron Disease (MND) and world famous scientist Stephen Hawking
“The only thing is that they’ve had to minimise the strains and struggles, because in our real life the difficulties of dealing with Stephen’s disease were much greater than they appear in the film.”
But the stresses of MND were not solely or even mostly down to the physical difficulties of the condition; what brought even greater disruption to their lives was the advent of the carers who shared their home, who disapproved of aspects of their lives, and whose presence meant they could never have the privacy that every family needs to thrive.
“They whispered about us and they undermined me,” says Jane. It’s clear the pain is still there. One of those nurses, Elaine Mason, went on to become his second wife, though the two later divorced.
“Being Stephen’s carer was such a struggle, and it’s a lonely job looking after a disabled person. Thinking back, I honestly wonder how I got through it. But what you hope is that the years since have brought improvements to the lives of disabled people and their carers, and I think for a while it was like that. But now the clock is turning back, and we can’t let that happen.”
Pic credit : Above article
