Frances has had MS for many years. There will be huge benefits if she can receive (unfunded) stem cell surgery which is not available in NZ.
Wellington
My name is Frances Hamilton and I have had MS for half my life. Now I need to go to Mexico for treatment to reboot my immune system so it will forget it ever had MS.
Why Mexico, you ask. This treatment is a haemopoetic stem cell transplant (HSCT) and is not available in NZ for people with MS. In Mexico, however, there are two facilities run by the Clinica Ruiz that perform HSCT every month for people with MS.
I was diagnosed in 1992. I hadn't even finished university, but all I could do was, “keep calm and carry on”. My career plan was to be a forensic scientist. I got there eventually by adopting the “fake it 'til you make it” strategy”. That strategy worked well for many years, but when I could fake it no longer my forensic career became more sedentary, but no less rewarding. Eventually being a sedentary forensic scientist became too exhausting so I turned away from 'science and the law' to intellectual property and the law'; my second and final career was that of a Patent Examiner.
And all the while my MS was progressing stealth-fully and robbing me of my health and fitness I had worked so hard to build. Only after my MS had affected my eyes to the point I could no longer read adequately and drive legally I had to farewell patent examination to become a well educated and experienced scientist without a future.
In Wellington I know, and also know of, many people with MS (pwMS) who have had HSCT and all wish they had been treated years ago. “Time is brain” we say with deep regret because the longer you leave having HSCT for your MS the more brain and body function you lose. For these post HSCT pwMS the results were awesome, but the results came at a cost. I will see little or no change out of $100,000. which is the amount I must raise to cover all costs incurred for HSCT in Mexico. My treatment starts on 30 April 2018; I have three months in which to raise $100,000. Please, I am asking you to help me raise the $100,000.
Have known Frances for 25 plus years, she is a very good friend. I knew her when she was at the top of her game professionally, watched the decline ...and yet she has remained positive, helping others, proud and determined, with minimal outside help. She deserves a break!
Travel to Mexico, MRI scan, stem cell surgery, one month post op recovery
Any surplus funds raised will be donated to the Multiple Sclerosis Wellington
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