A former home economics teacher from Blairgowrie has turned her cooking expertise into a force for good by creating a new cookbook to raise funds for the MS Society.
Lynn Smith, a 63-year-old grandmother who lives with multiple sclerosis (MS), has written Limited or Lazy: A Stress-free Cookbook for All - a collection of simple, time-saving and delicious recipes designed for people with limited mobility or busy lifestyles.
More than 17,000 people in Scotland, and more than 150,000 people in the whole of the UK, live with MS. It's a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord and impacts how people move, think and feel.
Talking about her own experience of MS, Lynn - also known as 'Granny Smith' - said: "I was first diagnosed in 2015 - I had been tripping and falling, my gait was out, and I had a bit of foot drop. I actually tripped on the door threshold and dislocated my shoulder.
"I went to the podiatrist to try and fix the problem with my walking, but they said I should really speak to a doctor. I was referred to a neurologist, and he diagnosed me with MS.
"Initially, I wondered if I'd had a stroke - my left side is more affected than my right side. But they did an MRI scan and it showed up lesions on my brain and damage to my myelin sheath."
Myelin is the fatty protective coating that surrounds nerve fibres. It allows messages to travel quickly along nerves without being lost or disrupted - like the insulation on an electrical wire. In MS, myelin is damaged and messages find it harder to travel along the nerves, which can impact how people move, think and feel. This damage is what causes MS symptoms, which are different for everybody and often invisible.
Lynn continued: "Diagnosis came as a big shock. And the sensation in my foot continued. It felt like somebody had stuffed a pair of socks underneath my toes; there was a lack of feeling there.
"At the time, I was a very active home economics teacher. I fell a couple of times in the kitchen. Luckily, my students weren't cooking at the time, but that's when I said, this isn't safe."
After her diagnosis, Lynn took early retirement from her role as principal teacher of home economics at Blairgowrie High School. But her dedication to teaching people about cooking didn't end there.
Lynn has since channelled her passion into writing Limited or Lazy: A Stress-free Cookbook for All.
Talking about the inspiration behind turning her hand to writing, Lynn said: "I was initially diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS. I was still able to do a lot. I had to watch my gait, but I could still walk quite a bit of distance.
"In the past few years, I've moved into secondary progressive MS."
Relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) is the most common form of the condition at diagnosis. People experience relapses (periods where symptoms get worse) followed by recovery. In secondary progressive MS (SPMS), symptoms gradually worsen over time, with fewer or no periods of remission.
Lynn continued: "I started using a stick to help stabilise me, and I now rely on a rollator when I'm out and about. I also have a little power chair, similar to a wheelchair, that goes out and about with me.
"MS really has knocked my mobility tenfold. It's quite frustrating, especially as when I was in the job, I never really sat down! I was always on the go. I did a lot of extracurricular stuff for the kids - I ran gala dinners, I took them on culinary trips to Italy, and I used to join other departments' trips, things like that. We did our own version of Strictly Come Dancing and I was able to take part in the dancing, which was wonderful.
"Diagnosis was like someone just took the rug and pulled it out from under my feet and knocked me into a pit of frustration. So that's why, when I retired, I thought - I'm going to have to do something or I'll be driven up the wall.
"The condition causes so much frustration. My friend says it's like your brain's writing cheques that your body can't cash. So that's one reason I started writing the book - to have somewhere to channel myself.
"But I also wanted to help people. And I'm very much a 'glass half full' person. I really enjoy helping people reach their optimum and making them feel good about themselves; it's what I did as a teacher, and it's what I hope this book does for people too."
The recipes in Limited or Lazy are designed to require little effort and few ingredients, making them accessible for people with limited mobility or anyone short on time.
The book also includes tips for time-saving purchases like pre-chopped onions, using handy measures rather than weighing out every ingredient, and ways to mix and match base recipes to produce different results - like turning scones from plain into salmon and dill or apple and cinnamon.
And it's not just readers who will benefit from the sale of Limited or Lazy: Lynn has pledged all proceeds from the book to MS research through the MS Society, the largest charitable funder of MS research in the UK. In today's money, the MS Society have invested over £218 million in research since 1956.
She said: "The hope with MS research is that one day, we'll have something that helps myelin repair. I dream that one day I could ditch my walking aids and get back to doing the things I love and helping people out.
"But even if MS research doesn't help me, it could help somebody else."
Jo Anderson, MS Society director for Scotland, said: "A huge thank you to Lynn for pledging the proceeds from Limited or Lazy to MS research and our work to stop MS.
"This brilliant cookbook uses Lynn's unique insight and creativity to design recipes that are accessible to everyone.
"Our vision is a world free from the effects of MS. And fundraisers like Lynn are helping us build momentum."