As he prepares for a charity gig to raise research funds

Ivo Graham has opened up about the impact of his mum’s multiple sclerosis as he prepares for a charity gig to boost funds for research into the disease.

He is hosting the Some Nerve! benefit at Indigo at the O2 in London on November 28, and put together the line-up which includes Rob Beckett, Rosie Jones and Maisie Adam. 

Ivo’s mum Emma was diagnosed with MS – which affects the central nervous system – when he was a child. 

Initially, her MS progressed quite slowly, but then things worsened as she moved to the secondary progressive type of the condition and she now uses a wheelchair most of the time. 

He  said:  ‘I didn’t know anything about my mum’s MS when I was growing up - she was already aware of it, and had occasional flare-ups, like a few months with a "wobbly hand" when I was 12, but I was too selfishly preoccupied with whether she’d let me go to watch the new American Pie to ask her why she wasn’t writing so easily at the moment. 

‘However, a few years later, it began to affect her legs, the start of a steady reduction in mobility that has led to increasingly large changes in her life, and our lives around her. 

‘She’s been in a wheelchair for the last few years - "Oma can’t come on the trampoline because her legs don’t work", as my four-year-old is really quite vigilant about telling people - and any family plans tend to require a fair bit more planning about how many stairs, helpers, rest stops, etc, said plan might entail.’

Ivo – who's appeared on Taskmaster, Have I Got News for You and Mock the Week – was named as an MS Society Ambassador last year and in April he and his family raised more than £14,000 by running the East London Victoria Park runs, with Ivo pushing his mum in her wheelchair, followed by Ivo and his brother taking on the London marathon.

He added: ‘I know tens of thousands of people in the UK are on journeys like this and working with the MS Society has made me feel so much closer to that community. 

‘I am so proud to also be part of a comedy community who pull together to support each other in our respective challenges, and bringing together some of my best friends and favourite comics to raise money for the MS Society is a joyous collision of these worlds.’

All the money from the comedy night will go to the MS Society’s Stop MS Appeal. More than 130,000 people live with MS in the UK, affecting how they move, think and feel,  with 130 more diagnosed each week.

Nick Moberly, chief executive of the MS Society, said: ‘We’re hugely grateful to Ivo for putting on this comedy night for us and getting so many other brilliant comedians involved. 

‘As Ivo knows, MS can be debilitating, painful and exhausting. This is really personal for Ivo and he’s done so much for us.

‘The money raised is going towards our vital research – we want to get to a point where everyone who lives with MS has a treatment available to them. We’re really excited for the night – which we’re sure will be amazing!’

Tickets are available here.

• Nish Kumar is headlining a benefit for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, which works with young people with the disease, to be held at Union Chapel  in Islington, North London, on November 23. Dylan Moran is also on the bill but no other line-up has been announced. Tickets are available here. 

Published: 9 Nov 2023