When Ruth Cotton walked out of her neurologist’s office in 1997 with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, her life changed irrevocably. At the peak of her career and with three children still at home, all she could think of were the uncertainties – especially whether she’d become wheelchair-bound. But Ruth continued her full, active life and it wasn’t until her retirement that multiple sclerosis exacted its greatest toll – slowly taking her balance and mobility.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic confined Ruth indoors, news came that her husband’s cancer – melanoma, diagnosed years before – was accelerating. Overwhelmed by a sense of life’s fragility, Ruth turned to writing to make sense of it all. As she gives close attention to her immediate environment, a more mindful way of being and thinking unfolds.

A Fragile Hold reveals with warmth and unflinching honesty the daily, intimate scenes of a life with multiple sclerosis.