Medical help-MS StemCell Therapy (HSCT) for Jeff

My name is Tara and I’m Jeff’s wife. 

First, Thank you for taking the time to stop and read our story. 

My husband has been struggling with Multiple Sclerosis for the past 15 years - debilitating pain, neuropathy, fatigue, sensory issues, balance issues and the list goes on. Our hope is to raise enough money to get him to Mexico, where the largest patient volume autoimmune disease treatment centre in the world is - Clinica Ruiz, for this HSCT treatment. This treatment can change his life and has the potential to stop his MS, giving him hopes of a pain free future. The cost of the treatment is $57,000 USD + roundtrip airfare for himself and a caregiver. 

The best part is - He has already been APPROVED!!!

Now all we have to do is raise the funds and get started! 

Here is Jeff’s story through his eyes:

My name is Jeff and 15 years ago I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Later confirmed to be Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (PPMS).

I am more than my illness. I am a father of 5, a husband, brother, son, and a member of the community. While I live with MS, I choose not to be defined by it. My goal in getting this treatment is to inspire others to fight like I have and continue until we have a cure.

In my early 30’s, I visited my doctor after several months of blinding headaches and weakness on my left side. This was followed by CAT scans and MRI’s which quickly led to my diagnosis. My initial scans showed 36 lesions largely on the left side of my brain with some as large as 3.5cm. On average, people with MS present with 10-15 lesions on their initial scans.

As you can imagine, this was a shock for myself and my family and a lot of questions came fast. Why? What kind? What does this mean for our family and the future?

About 10-15% of people with MS have PPMS. If you have PPMS, you will experience gradually worsening neurologic symptoms and an accumulation of disability. Although women with MS outnumber men by nearly 4 to 1, men tend to have more severe symptoms and are more likely to have a PPMS diagnosis.

I was referred to UBC’s head of neurology since my case was considered fast-moving and the outlook was not great. Even with the available treatment options, it was likely major loss of mobility or permanent disability would be in my future in a very short amount of time.

The last 15 years have been a journey filled with ups and downs. Some of the medications resulted in a major weight gain of 80lbs which I have lost after changing and following a strict diet. I lost my oldest son to addiction in 2016. I nearly lost my daughter to renal failure in 2021, but thankfully my wife (her step-mother) donated a kidney to save her. One of my other sons struggles with a severe mental illness. There have been several changes in medications, diets, supplements, exercises, vitamins and anything else to try to slow the disease down and give me, my family and the community more time to find answers!

Finally, it seems that through HSCT Stem Cell Therapy, there is some hope. Currently at the 5 year mark, the remission rates are averaging 81% after the treatment, with improved EDD scores in many cases. Although it is not being called a cure YET, this is the closest to a cure that there is with outstanding results in over 5,000 cases studied.

My current condition, while still manageable, has been getting worse at a steady rate over the last year requiring me to drastically alter my lifestyle- cutting back on work hours, adding mobility aids, and finding some new coping aids for other issues.

My belief is that with this treatment, I can significantly extend my ability to continue to work and provide for my family and hopefully be able to play catch in the yard with my grandchildren someday.

Thank you for taking time to read his story.

We want you to know that the money will be used only for the cost of the treatment and no other reason. We will post an update once we have successfully raised the money.

What is HSCT: 

HSCT aims to 'reset' the immune system to stop it attacking the central nervous system. It uses chemotherapy to remove the harmful immune cells and then rebuilds the immune system using a type of stem cell found in your bone marrow. These are the haematopoietic stem cells. The stem cells used in the treatment can produce all the different cells in your blood, including immune cells. But they can't regenerate damaged nerves or other parts of the brain and spinal cord. The procedure will take one month to complete and involves harvesting Jeff’s stem cells, receiving chemotherapy to ablate Jeff’s immune system and then reintroducing his stem cells with the hope of re-setting his immune system with no trace of MS. While treatment is 1 month long, he will need to isolate for 3 months following this procedure and all healing won’t take place fully until 12 months post treatment. There is no cure for MS, however this treatment offers a 75% to 90% chance to halt the disease where it is; meaning that his level of current disability doesn’t progress and there may even be further healing of damaged systems and functions.

We thank each and everyone of you who has contributed!

Tara and Family