British athlete Lina Nielsen has praised the support of her twin sister as they both battle with MS.
Nielsen, 26, publicly opened up on her diagnoses with multiple sclerosis after suffering a flare up at the World Championships earlier this year.
The hurdler, who still has aims of competing at the Olympics in Paris, was diagnosed at 17 and advised to stop training as it may be detrimental to her condition.
But she defied doctors and she went onto make her Commonwealth Games debut in August.
Last year, her sister and fellow athlete Lavia was also diagnosed with MS and Nielsen has opened up on how they get each other through very tough times.
Nielsen told the BBC : "She turned around to me and said 'because you've done it, I'm not scared.' She was quite early in the diagnosis so it was looking quite positive.
"When you see her running to the track, hugging me and us both crying, it's because we are the only two people that really understand what it meant to even get to that point.
"She has been such a massive support for me. At times where I couldn't even brush my own hair, she would brush my hair for me.
"She gave me the motivation to keep going. She'd say 'you never know how far you're going to get' at times when I wanted to quit."
Looking ahead to Paris in 2024, Nielsen believes she still has what it takes to line up and represent Great Britain.
She adds: "With relapsing-remitting MS, you can be healthy for a long period of time. And so it doesn't so much hinder your day-to-day life - I can still perform at a good level and aim for those world and Olympic finals.
"If I was to make it, people would think 'that's the girl with MS'. I didn't want that to be a label in my career. I want to show how far I can go."
