Jens Thomsen
Crew
Jens Thomsen is an M&A Consultant who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. He will be sailing one of the longest legs in the voyage, from Lisbon to Boston. Jens has been living with multiple sclerosis for over 14 years.
“I’ve been biking across Iceland with a tent with one of my mates, I’ve crossed through the Atlas Mountains on a bike for a few weeks, I’ve been cave diving in Mexico, but in the Mediterranean I was looking at the boats disappearing over the horizon and it was one thing that I haven’t done. So, when I saw the heard about Oceans of Hope I knew ‘that’s what I need to do next'.
“I’ve been sailing at the Royal Copenhagen [Yacht Club] for the last year but haven’t really sailed before that and nothing long distance. I love sailing now because it is you and nature and it takes skill to master. It is a beautiful feeling to be on a sailboat and just listen, work hard and enjoy it.
“For the first ten years, having MS didn’t mean anything really because I was working and travelling a lot and life was just ordinary, but then I had a few really bad attacks of fatigue that started to play a major role in my MS.
“I discovered I had MS about 14 years ago after I kept falling at track and field practice. I was a runner, a long-distance runner, and I financed my study by being good at athletics. So, when it came to the point where I kind of felt that my right leg was not behaving and I started to stumble, I got medical advice.
“I went to a neurologist and he saw my symptoms and started talking about MS straight away, even before the scan. I don’t think anybody actually knows what MS is because it’s so different. A man I spoke to not to long ago said: ‘You know what? You have one of the most beautiful diseases in the world, it’s bespoke.' Understanding that is probably a pretty good start in terms of understanding MS, because it’s so different from person to person.
“But now I’m really just looking forward to the voyage and the adventure.”