Sarah & Cali beat MS together

My Diagnosis

Being an active PE teacher and only young in the profession, the diagnosis of MS was life-changing and extremely frightening. Being physically active has been my life and what keeps me loving life.

To be diagnosed with MS is terrifying.

I was taken to the hospital by ambulance under the assumption I was having a stroke. I lost part of my sight, and the right side of my body was numb. Once it was determined I was not having a stroke and in fact, I had Multiple Sclerosis, I was released from the hospital and was referred to a neurologist in Adelaide.

By the time I started my treatment I had lost the ability to initiate swallowing, I had extreme heat sensitivity, my bladder gave me only seconds warning to get to the toilet, and the right side of my body was still numb. I have suffered with vertigo and whooshing feeling where I feel like I am going to fall backwards and my feet feeling like they are on fire or like I was walking on glass… as crazy as it sounds, if I had to choose I preferred the walking on glass feeling.

What is Multiple Sclerosis?

Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease that has no cure. That in itself weighs heavy on your mental health, trying to maintain a normal life and work, while in the back of your mind you just never know when they next lesion will form on your brain or spinal cord and with that what disability it will bring. My current treatments in Australia have not been able to stop my relapses of new symtoms and I seem to relapse every four to five months with a new symptom. This means that MS is always on the forefront of my mind, because it takes up to three months for my symptoms from the relapse to settle.

HSCT

HSCT – Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant, is a process of harvesting a patients own stem cells, killing off the existing immune system through chemotherapy and then placing those stem cells back into the body to help grow a brand new immune system, in hopes it does not attack the body. This is my chance of hope and an MS free life. I have been denied twice for HSCT in Australia, being told each time that my disability is not considered ‘dire’ enough. I don’t want to be in a dire position to halt my MS, I need to prevent the disability from happening so that I can live a normal life, working and enjoying the time that I have with my friends and my dogs. To obtain HSCT treatment, I must travel to Mexico for a 28 day treatment at a cost of over $95k.

My Plea

I am not one to ask for help and I am humbled by having to do so. I am desperately wanting HSCT treatment to stop this disease in its tracks, and I would be eternally grateful if anyone could donate towards this treatment. It is so important to me to be pro-active in the management of my illness so that I can maintain the quality of life that I currently have. I do not want to wait to be severely disabled and unable to work. I ask that if you cannot donate to my treatment, then please share my story as far and wide as you can; the more people this reaches, the better chance I have of raising even a small amount to help cover the cost.