Three women find hope Liberation therapy set women free from Multiple Sclerosis - facebook prikbord

NORTH OAKVILLE TODAY – Three women sat in a

North Oakville living room last week enjoying a cup of coffee and

talking about what the future holds.
“It’s nice to look forward to the future instead of being terrified of it,” said 54-year-old Coleen Spence-Smith.
Nancy Bjonklund, 42, and Charmaine Zankowicz, 42, swiftly agreed as they sipped from their mugs in Zankowicz’s Falgarwood home.
All three women suffer from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and have all recently
undergone a controversial treatment for MS called liberation therapy, a

treatment that is currently unavailable in Canada.
Spence-Smith had the treatment six months ago in Albany, New York. Zankowicz and
Bjonklund travelled to Phoenix, Arizona only three weeks ago for their

treatment.
It cost Spence-Smith $5,000 for the life-changing procedure, while the other two ladies each paid $8,500.
“I couldn’t believe how simple it was,” said Spence-Smith. “You’re wide
awake for the whole thing. I was nervous about that, I’d read that

you’re awake, and I thought how am I going to handle this? It was

absolutely fine. I didn’t feel a thing.”
Liberation therapy, developed by Italian vascular surgeon Dr. Paolo Zamboni, uses
angioplasty to widen the jugular veins and encourages blood flow in

blocked or tightened areas.
Zamboni theorizes that constriction of the veins flowing from the brain, a condition he calls Chronic
Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI), causes blood to back up and

results in an accumulation of iron within the brain, triggering MS.
Each of the women had similar stories about their diagnoses.
Their lives seemed to be heading on the right track. Spence-Smith and
Bjonklund had just met the men of their dreams and Zankowicz had just

gotten married.
“I got in my car and cried for two hours in the garage at St. Michael’s Hospital,” said Spence-Smith. “So I met the man
of my dreams and now I have to tell him somehow that I’m going to be a

wheelchair in 10 years.”
Before the procedure, the women's symptoms were getting steadily worse. They had each experienced some form of
paralysis, fatigue and loss of balance.
Spence-Smith confided in Zankowicz and Bjonklund that at one point her symptoms had gotten so
bad, she was not sure she could go on.
“The worst time was about a month before I went to Albany and it’s like no pain I had ever known,”
she said. “It’s nerve pain and the best way to describe it is it’s as if

your nerves are on fire. It’s just unbelievable.
“It usually hit in the middle of the night and it got so bad that I would just be sobbing and pounding my fist into the couch.
“My husband came down and he felt so helpless and I said to him ‘hon, if
this is the new normal, I’m killing myself’ and I meant it.
“He said, ‘we’re getting you that operation.’"
Since the liberation therapy six months ago, Spence-Smith has not felt that pain again.
“That’s why people are so desperate,” she said, “because it’s like, lets try something, there’s nothing else.”
Zamboni’s claims that CCSVI is the cause of MS have yet to be substantiated but
the MS Societies of Canada and the U.S. are currently funding studies

into CCSVI and its connection with MS.
The results of these studies will not be available for at least two years.
MS Society of Canada spokesperson Stewart Wong said that they understand
people need to make their own decisions but they recommend that

treatment and testing of CCSVI only be done in the context of a research

protocol.
“I understand where they’re coming from that they want more research,” said Bjonklund, “but there are other places that are
offering this treatment and I don’t understand why we’re not.”
The ladies wanted to tell their stories in order to pressure the government
into expediting the process of approving the procedure in Canada.
"At least, in the mean time, make it an elective procedure," said
Spence-Smith. "Why can't we pay privately here? If you wanted to have

something...like breast implants, you could. That can be dangerous."
While they have already noticed some improvements in their condition three
weeks after receiving the treatment, Zankowicz and Bjonklund couldn’t

help but ask Spence-Smith what they could look forward to.
She said, “If it just stopped the progression then I was good with that, but as I
improve I keep thinking I might be able to wear heels again.”

http://www.insidehalton.com/community/health/article/911535--three-women-find-hope