Here’s a chance to donate your body to science while you’re still living in it. If you read or watch TV you’ve heard of a new treatment for Multiple Sclerosis and you know that some people think it’s a life saver and others thing it’s a total fraud. It’s called “The Liberation Treatment” or the Zamboni procedure. And there are at least a million internet pages devoted to it.

Everyone wants to know more about it – some people are working to find out. That’s called research.

Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world, and Hamilton, Ontario has one of the highest rates of MS in Canada. No coincidence then, that there’s really good research going on at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton.

The theory is that MS is caused or at least exacerbated by narrow veins which do not let blood drain properly from your brain. It’s called CCSVI: Cerebral Spinal Vascular Insufficiency and if you can say that correctly in one breath there’s a prize. The Liberation Treatment balloons out these veins, blood flows and usually good results follow. That’s an encyclopaedia of medicine in 20 words, obviously there’s more to it.

The guys in Hamilton are looking to see who has blocked veins and who does not. If all MS patients have this condition and not many of the rest of us do – that’s a big deal. Diagnosis is tricky but they’re trained to do it using ultrasound and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) They have the equipment, the skills and they need bodies – live ones !

There are looking at 100 people with MS and 100 “healthy volunteers” without MS but not enough healthy people are showing up.

I did. It took an afternoon, I had to drive to Hamilton. Frankly, I thought it was an honour and I probably would have paid to participate because I’m hopeful that they’re really onto a breakthrough, and it was a fascinating experience with lovely people who even paid for parking!

Here’s what they need: People who do not have MS and are not related by blood to anyone with MS. Right now, to keep the study balanced the greatest need is for women 35-65. You can’t have any non-removable body jewellery or tattoos above the neck (apparently there are a lot of tattooed eyebrows out there). You can’t be badly claustrophobic because you have to spend some time inside a noisy MRI machine and you can’t weigh more than 350 pounds because if you do you might never get out. There are a few more details but not many.

You don’t get anything out of it. Your personal results go into the hopper and are compared to the group at large. It’s not going to do anything for your own health. On the other hand, you get everything out of it. The researchers at St. Joe’s won’t tell you this, but in my opinion, this condition is almost certainly a cause or a contributing factor to some of the big nasties like MS, Parkinson’s, ALS and Alzheimer’s.

If it’s worth an afternoon of your time to be part of maybe, just maybe curing those horrors, call Andrea at St, Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton at (905) 522-1155 ext. 35368 or drop her a line at amazzett@stjosham.on.ca and see if she wants your body.

Often I sit and dream of places I’d like to visit — France, Hawaii, Germany, Russia, Australia. In my 35 years, I’ve never fantasized about travelling to Poland, especially for medical care.

But a year ago, there was a CTV news story about Dr. Paolo Zamboni of Italy and his hypothesis that physiological malformations of veins may trigger multiple sclerosis (MS).

I watched with great interest and excitement, yet tried hard to remain skeptical and cautious. I began to research Zamboni’s theory, reading his scientific studies, reviewing the testimonials of people who had the procedure performed and, of course, the opinions of critics.

I became optimistic that he may have found a significant causal link between MS and malformed veins. But I was still not convinced.

Last spring, Maureen Ayles of Labrador City announced she had received the liberation treatment in Tychy, Poland, from Dr. Jacek Kostecki. She reported positive results.