By Adriana Christianson

New treatment for MS raises Sask. woman’s hope

Mar 2, 2015 | 4:30 PM

Several new research studies on stem cell treatment is offering hope to thousands of people living with Multiple Sclerosis in Saskatchewan and across Canada.

Doctors are calling a groundbreaking research study based in the U.K. miraculous for being the first treatment to reverse the symptoms of the incurable disease. In clinical trials 24 M.S. patients were treated with chemotherapy and then stem cells to effectively rebuild their immune systems.

Patients who had been confined to wheelchairs for 10 years were walking again, while others left blind by the disease could see again.

Nicole Tiller is one of more than 3,500 people in Saskatchewan suffering from MS.

“It gives everybody hope,” she said, referring to news of this study and others like it.

Vise grip driver

Vise grips not a steering wheel: RCMP

15h ago

Patient supports

'Misuse' of free parking passes attributed to cancellation: SHA

18h ago

Golf season approaching

Local golf courses target opening days following late season snowfall

Apr 20, 2024

Tiller was diagnosed with MS in April 2012 after being hit with an attack that caused double vision. At 39, she is still in the early remission and relapse stage of the disease. For now, she says her daily symptoms like pain and fatigue are manageable, but she lives in fear of what comes next.

“When will I progress to the next stage,” she said. “It’s just a scary thing to not know, there is no way to predict when that will happen or how bad it will be and how it will impact your life.”

New research and clinical studies about treatments for MS always bring Tiller hope. She says they also help in her fundraising efforts for the MS Society.

“It’s really nice to be able to see the tangible outcomes that are made possible by those kind of fundraising activities,” Tiller commented.

It’s why she is so happy the MS Society of Canada is helping to fund two more clinical trials which will use stem cells with a different approach.

Instead of rebuilding the immune system, the Canadian trials will use Mesenchymal stem cells to target and repair damaged nerve cells.

Tiller is particularly excited to see that the Canadian stem cell studies are open to patients who have the progressive form of MS.

“It’s maybe not so scary, the thought of getting to that stage and what will happen,” she said. “At least there’s some hope that maybe there will be a treatment available.”

She says research studies like these ones offer her hope for her own future.

“Just having that light at the end of the tunnel and thinking that this might not be something that I have to live with my whole life,” Tiller said. “I could in my lifetime not have this disease, or at least have a significant reduction in the symptoms.”

The clinical trials are based in Winnipeg and Ottawa and are still recruiting new patients.

news@panow.com 

On Twitter:@princealbertnow