By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
BREE-ARNE Manley is never short of a word.
The Point Lonsdale singer, songwriter, wife and mother has lyrically alluded to her battle with multiple sclerosis in two EPs and a double album.
She’s also been a focal point of fund-raising activities for respite facilities to help people with health challenges.
Despite all that, Bree admitted always keeping to herself deep thoughts about the impact of MS on her life.
“I’m just used to handling it on my own,” she confessed.
“It’s been a bit of a closed circle. I was happy to have people looking in from the outside because I still got to choose what they saw.”
That won’t be the case after 14 November when Bree launches her first book, Hope – Fighting Multiple Sclerosis.
“Now people get to see all the gory details,” she laughed.
“I had to learn how to make myself vulnerable. It was extra difficult because I’m already in a vulnerable position.”
Bree confessed the therapeutic process of redrafting the manuscript multiple times forced her to face some of her own demons after living with MS so long she forgot what life was like before her diagnosis.
“It took three drafts just to get all the angry stuff out,” she said.
“It’s really confronting in parts but there’s a lot of funny stuff in there as well, like the times I’ve stepped into the shower, looked down and realised I still had one sock on because I can’t feel my feet.”
Strangely enough, Bree said the confrontation of dealing with a sensitive topic worked both ways.
“Now I’m finding it confronting telling people about the book and answering questions about it. I also found I’d developed a few tricks to help cope with life, like learning to stay calm and to mellow out a lot.
“Writing it unlocked a lot of emotional triggers that I didn’t expect, so I had to use a few of those life tricks with the book as well.”
