MSWA is centred around providing vital support and services to people living with neurological conditions in Western Australia. This includes people living with multiple sclerosis, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, motor neurone disease, and acquired brain injury, to name a few.
A successful artist and designer, family man, and nature lover
Hank Gidney is one of those people. Originally schooled in fine art, he’s fascinated by all things creative. He’s also a commercial artist and designer with over three decades of experience under his belt. As the founding member of his agency Monkey London, he’s been influential in producing some of the most notable images and advertising campaigns in the public domain.
“From a very early age, I was picking up pencils and drawing. I went to art college in the UK, and after finishing, when I was wondering what to do with my life, I fell into design and advertising. It became something that was second nature to me,” Hank said.
“I’ve spent over 30 years living and working in design and advertising in London. I’ve had a very successful career but in about 2014, we decided to move back to my wife’s hometown of Perth.”
Hank had been travelling to and from the UK on multiple occasions for work and family. On his last visit in 2018, he began to feel strange — it started with unbearable pain in his feet, which within two weeks, travelled up to his knees and hips. Fearing DVT, Hank went to A&E in the UK. They confirmed that it wasn’t DVT and suggested he should consult his GP when back in Australia.
Hank went to his GP who referred him to the neurologist who diagnosed the MS after a series of tests.
“Being diagnosed with MS is like losing someone; it’s grief. You’re mourning your old self, but you have to learn to accept it. I lived hard and fast in London, thinking I was indestructible, so realising I needed to accept the help was difficult.”
“At the time, the neurologist said something I really didn’t appreciate but I get it now. He told me, ‘you obviously don’t want this [MS], but if there was ever a time to have this, it’s now. The treatments and research we have now are lightyears ahead of what was around ten years ago’.”
“The thing that’s cruel about this condition is that it arrives at a time in life when people are trying to build careers and families. But I’m lucky because I’ve had the career and I have the family, and I still live at home and work in design, branding, and advertising. I just have to be more choosey with what I do — it’s a constant management of energy.”
The incredible impact of MSWA

From the moment Hank was diagnosed, he was told to reach out to MSWA. Describing the team as “selfless and brilliant,” he knows that he would not have received the same level of treatment and care back in the UK as the National Health Service (NHS) is strained.
“From the moment MSWA spoke to me about my condition, they spread out a whole gamut of services that were potentially for me. The great thing about MSWA is that they really listen and bend over backwards if I need anything. They are a good bunch of people who care a lot about what they do. I really couldn’t speak higher of them.”
One of the services Hank regularly uses is mindfulness and meditation.
“When I was initially diagnosed, I realised quickly that it was going to be a long journey and I needed to get my head around it.”
“A part of living with the condition is about making peace with yourself and learning to live with the pain. It’s as much of a mental battle as it is physical, so mindfulness and meditation has been a Godsend — it’s a very, very valuable service for me.”
Hank’s MS mural and the healing power of art

For Hank, art is a way of expressing his internal monologue. Over the years, he’s spent hours conceptualising and creating artwork that illustrates the emotions and sensations he experiences daily. Through his work, he aims to portray, explain, and understand his MS symptoms, providing insight into his journey, as every case is different.
He was commissioned by MSWA to create a wall mural in Scarborough that resonated with himself and others with the condition, as well as the general public. According to Hank, it’s something he’s been humbled by, because he didn’t think that his story was that interesting.
“The focus of the mural is about those synapses and all that craziness that goes on in your brain. Sometimes they fire correctly, and sometimes they misfire and my legs don’t work properly. MS can get quite shouty.”
“My face is covered by the wings of an outstretched bird, and there’s this burst of energy. It’s about not being contained — life without limits. It’s something that I’ve been playing around with for quite some time.”

“All of us have very different experiences with MS. There are parts we all get — the lack of energy and fatigue are ones we all share. But some of us are wheelchair-bound, I’m not.”
Hank’s main symptoms include bad nerve pain in his legs and tingling in his arms. He struggles with impaired balance and finds it difficult to feel surfaces, sometimes stumbling when walking. According to Hank, the daily pain can be quite overwhelming.
“So the focus of the mural is on me, it’s about the energy that expands from a single place, and that single place is inside my brain. The colour and the length of colour is about energy and vibrancy of thought. It’s in contrast with this bird that is a very heavy metaphor about being free.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time watching birds that are really pretty useless on the ground but pretty spectacular in the sky. When you think about it, a feather is useless by itself, but once it’s part of a wing, it can do incredible things. It’s about freedom and what that used to feel like.”
Why is it important to donate?
Today, MSWA’s team of experienced health professionals provide information and a range of support from the time of diagnosis. In addition to direct care services, MSWA funds vital, innovative research projects into neurological conditions.
“MSWA does everything in its power to help me live the most normal life possible. That’s only because people, very kindly, put their hands in their pockets and donate.”
“If you have the opportunity to help in small amounts, those small amounts can help exponentially and make a huge difference. They allow me to go to physio and improve my mindset and nutrition. It helps me, but it also helps my family, and so many people around me.”
Change a life, and give now.
You can now see Hank’s commissioned design for yourself. The spectacular mural, painted by Mural Media, can now be seen in Scarborough, at 194 West Coast Highway.
