Fly me to the cure...
Donation protected
My friends know me as Jo or even Ginger Jo (although it's a lot of grey these days!) and I have MS. I was diagnosed in October 2003.
Whilst I live with this condition as positively as I can it has taken much away from me. I can no longer run or ride my racing bike, I can't feel my fingers and I can only walk about half a mile. But I still swim and this is what keeps me sane!
Last year whilst researching treatments for my MS I found a treatment to HALT the disease progression called HSCT - Haematopoetic Stem Cell Transplantation. The evidence is outstanding. With nearly 90% of transplant recipients having their disease HALTED with up to 80% of those going on to regain lost function.
I WANT a chance to HALT progression and I want a chance at regaining all the things the MS has stolen from me.
The treatment involves stimulating stem cells to be released from the bone marrow into the blood stream. From there they are harvested and stored. Then the real treament can begin!
I will be blasted with chemotherapy to knock my immune system into submission. This happens over 5 days and like many chemo treatments will result in me losing my hair as well as the possibility of feeling very nauseous amongst other things.
My stem cells are then returned to me and the rebuilding of a new immune system will start. My new immune system will have no memory of the destruction it was wreaking on my body and my MS progression will HALT!
Sadly the NHS are unable to offer this treatment to the majority of the 127,000 MS patients in the UK as there are few official clinical trials to enable NICE to recommend it despite other parts of the world - like Mexico - performing HSCT for MS for almost a decade.
This brings me to my fundraising goal...
On 18th July I am going to Clinica Ruiz in Mexico City (link below) to recieve this treatment and I would love it if my friends would consider donating towards the costs of my treatment.
In June I am going to cut my long hair short and donate it to the Little Princess Trust. The Trust enables children who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy similar to that which I will be undertaking to have a real hair wig.
I would like to ask for sponsorship to do this. The hair will be donated to the Trust and the money raised I will add to the monies I need for this life changing treatment.
I'd love to be able to fly to and from Mexico with a Premium Economy ticket!
I would love it if I could take an iPad with me to make it easier to stay in touch with all my wonderful friends back here in the UK.
This treatment will give me the chance to have a future that doesn't involve deteriorating to the point of needing a wheelchair or worse being bedbound. It'll allow me to participate in life as I choose rather than having my future dictated by a debilitating disease.
To be able to have this opportunity would mean so much to me. The gratitude is almost beyond words...
Please please consider donating.
For further information about the Little Princess Trust and the Clinica Ruiz in Mexico follow the links below.
Links...
Can you cure my MS?
BBC Panorama - first shown in January 2016
https://youtu.be/a0srtBmTg2c
www.littleprincesses.org.uk/about-us/
www.clinicaruiz.com/hematologia/trasplants.htm
Whilst I live with this condition as positively as I can it has taken much away from me. I can no longer run or ride my racing bike, I can't feel my fingers and I can only walk about half a mile. But I still swim and this is what keeps me sane!
Last year whilst researching treatments for my MS I found a treatment to HALT the disease progression called HSCT - Haematopoetic Stem Cell Transplantation. The evidence is outstanding. With nearly 90% of transplant recipients having their disease HALTED with up to 80% of those going on to regain lost function.
I WANT a chance to HALT progression and I want a chance at regaining all the things the MS has stolen from me.
The treatment involves stimulating stem cells to be released from the bone marrow into the blood stream. From there they are harvested and stored. Then the real treament can begin!
I will be blasted with chemotherapy to knock my immune system into submission. This happens over 5 days and like many chemo treatments will result in me losing my hair as well as the possibility of feeling very nauseous amongst other things.
My stem cells are then returned to me and the rebuilding of a new immune system will start. My new immune system will have no memory of the destruction it was wreaking on my body and my MS progression will HALT!
Sadly the NHS are unable to offer this treatment to the majority of the 127,000 MS patients in the UK as there are few official clinical trials to enable NICE to recommend it despite other parts of the world - like Mexico - performing HSCT for MS for almost a decade.
This brings me to my fundraising goal...
On 18th July I am going to Clinica Ruiz in Mexico City (link below) to recieve this treatment and I would love it if my friends would consider donating towards the costs of my treatment.
In June I am going to cut my long hair short and donate it to the Little Princess Trust. The Trust enables children who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy similar to that which I will be undertaking to have a real hair wig.
I would like to ask for sponsorship to do this. The hair will be donated to the Trust and the money raised I will add to the monies I need for this life changing treatment.
I'd love to be able to fly to and from Mexico with a Premium Economy ticket!
I would love it if I could take an iPad with me to make it easier to stay in touch with all my wonderful friends back here in the UK.
This treatment will give me the chance to have a future that doesn't involve deteriorating to the point of needing a wheelchair or worse being bedbound. It'll allow me to participate in life as I choose rather than having my future dictated by a debilitating disease.
To be able to have this opportunity would mean so much to me. The gratitude is almost beyond words...
Please please consider donating.
For further information about the Little Princess Trust and the Clinica Ruiz in Mexico follow the links below.
Links...
Can you cure my MS?
BBC Panorama - first shown in January 2016
https://youtu.be/a0srtBmTg2c
www.littleprincesses.org.uk/about-us/
www.clinicaruiz.com/hematologia/trasplants.htm
Organizer
Johanna Barkwith
Organizer