Clint Sherwood was just 32 years old when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Eight year on, the former football player is a shadow of his former self. A prisoner in his unresponsive body, he is now unable to move or utter a single word.

Ahead of MS Awareness Week his devoted parents Terry and Shirley are paying tribute to his remarkable fortitude and resilience.

“TO see such a healthy confident boy have his independence, have everything, stripped away from him has been heart-breaking. We never ever thought it would get to this stage.”

And yet by 2012, Shirley Sherwood and her husband Terry had to resign themselves to a sombre reality: MS was relentlessly gnawing away at their son’s faculties, trapping the once athletic and healthy young man within his own stunted body.

In retrospect many of the signs were noticeable if they had known where to look, but nothing could have stopped the onslaught of the illness.

Clint was just 16 when he suffered a severe bout of glandular fever in his final year at St Joseph’s College. The gifted footballer made a full recovery and swiftly joined the Supermarines.

A model of health and athleticism on the surface, Clint started being plagued with back and neck pain and loss of balance.

“Looking back we wonder whether the fever had anything to do with it,” explains Terry, a retired engineer, from Coleview. “People that have had MS very often have had glandular fever, which attacks your immune system.

“Although he seemed strong and healthy to everyone else, his energy levels dropped, he felt more tired and he found the training regime difficult. He started to have stumbles. We didn’t think much of it at the time.”

Life carried on as normal for Clint who adhered to a strict fitness routine, exercising at the gym regularly, and followed a wholesome diet.

“His body was a temple,” smiles Shirley.

Clint left the Supermarines for the Sunday league at Highworth Town at the age of 18. During a match he was knocked unconscious. After a season, he quit the team . He qualified as a master carpenter and worked as a shopfitter for many years.

Far from subsiding as the years passed, his neck and back pain worsened. For years he consulted acupuncturists and saw a chiropractor to alleviate the symptoms. Clint and his parents put it down to the incident on the pitch.

Countless tests and doctor’s appointments shed little light on the cause of his constant aches. Frustrated Shirley accompanied her son to the GP in 2005. She suggested something may be wrong with his nervous system.

His bone marrow was tested.

When the results came back, Clint was told he could be suffering from MS.

Two years later, in 2007, after a battery of tests and months of careful monitoring he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a condition which affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing problems with muscle movement, balance and vision. He was 32 years old.

“At first Clint would not have it, he completely dismissed it,” recalls Shirley, a retired council employee. “He didn’t want anyone to know. He just didn’t want to accept it. When he was diagnosed in 2007, the doctor told him he could be in a wheelchair in three years.”

Following the diagnosis, Clint travelled to Australia to make the most of the limited time he was given.

On his return in January 1998, his parents noticed a change in him. His face had dropped from exhaustion, in a similar way as a stroke victim. His condition gradually deteriorated. Soon he was using a walking stick and repeatedly falling down stairs.

In 2008, Clint began receiving support and oxygen therapy, to help his body to heal and limit the damage caused by the disease, at Swindon Therapy Centre for Multiple Sclerosis. He still attends the centre three times a week.

Struggling to walk up the stairs to his first floor flat, Clint moved into one of Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud’s eco-friendly houses in Ferndale in 2010. After a few months he became confined to a wheelchair bound.

“Things got a lot worse for him,” Terry, 67, remembers. “He lost the ability to walk. He had a frontal lobe problem caused by MS, which means he had mood swings; he couldn’t cope with the stress and he got depressed and very frustrated. It was very difficult for him. He also had a bladder problem. He had to have a catheter put in. He deteriorated quickly after that.”

In 2011, his diagnosis was revised from remitting and relapsing to primary progressive MS, the most severe form of MS. By 2012, he had moved into an extension in his parents’ home.

The following winter Clint, a race car enthusiast, was treated to a ride in a sports car at Castle Combe race track as part of Adver’s Christmas Wish Appeal. Shirley and Terry look fondly on that day which gave their son one final memory to hold on to before his body seized up irrevocably.

He is now looked after by carers during the day while his parents take over at night.

Earlier this year, Clint lost the ability to speak. He now communicates by gazing at letters on a cardboard frame to form words.

“There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme of reason as to why people get MS or the level of severity they have,” sighs Shirley, 62. “Some people might stumble and only get that for 30 years, some people may lose their sight. But for Clint, it’s been a vicious disease.”

Her husband adds: “We were hoping initially he would have the minor form of MS, he was so fit at the time. It has been indescribable. You see a boy so fit and suddenly it’s all lost. We never thought he would get to this stage so quickly.

"The worse and hardest thing for Clint to cope with at the moment is his loss of speech. At times he has so much he would like to say.

"To lose your voice when your brain is working fine is so cruel. The last three years have been very hard for us all.

"If we didn’t have carers from Continuing Healthcare and the NHS we would be lost.

"You have to take it one day at a time otherwise you would go mad. You can’t think about the future. We just try to do the best we can for him.”

In future Clint, who has problems swallowing, may be fed through a tube. MS is not fatal, but some complications arising from severe MS, such as pneumonia, can be.

Over the past three years, his parents have devoted their lives to Clint’s wellbeing and happiness.

Despite his illness, Clint has shown great strength in the face of his hardship. In March he celebrated his 40th birthday surrounded by friends and family. He raised £607 for the Swindon Therapy Centre for MS in the process.

“He has coped with everything admirably,” says his 62-year-old-mother with emotion.

“As positive as he is he doesn’t want to be engaged in his body. We try to make him as comfortable as we can. He still wants to live his life - he loves his nephew Harrison - and make the most of every day and we do as many things as family as we can.

“He is our world and we will continue to do everything we can to make his life better, whatever it takes. He is our son, we love him and loves us.”

MS Awareness week will take place between April 27 and May 3.

For more details about Swindon Therapy Centre for MS, which is based at Bradbury House, Westmead Drive, go to www.msswindon.org.uk, call 01793 481700 or email stcswindon@btconnect.com.

Fact file

• Multiple sclerosis affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of symptoms including problems with muscle movement, balance and vision.

• There are different types of MS: relapsing and remitting, secondary progressive or primary progressive.

• Around eight out of 10 people with MS are diagnosed with the relapsing remitting type. Someone with relapsing remitting MS will have flare-ups of symptoms, known as relapses. These can last from a few days to a few months. These will be followed by periods where symptoms are mild or disappear altogether. This is known as remission and can last for days, weeks or sometimes months.

• Usually after around 15 years, around half of people with relapsing remitting MS will go on to develop secondary progressive MS. In secondary progressive MS, symptoms gradually worsen over time. Some people may still have relapses, but without full recovery from symptoms.

• In primary progressive MS, symptoms gradually get worse over time and there are no periods of remission.

• There is currently no cure for MS.

• There are around 100,000 people with MS in the UK.

• MS is not fatal, but some complications that arise from severe MS, such as pneumonia, can be.