Victoria single mom Valerie Mac-Neil is looking forward to her best Christmas season in years.

"My biggest gift is my energy," she said. "It will be wonderful being able
to go out and see friends whereas last year I had to decline most of

my invitations."

MacNeil travelled to Poland last summer for the controversial "liberation" treatment for multiple sclerosis that was
pioneered in Italy but isn't yet available in Canada.

"I'm feeling really good," said MacNeil from her Victoria home where she
lives with her 11-year-old daughter, Bhreagh. "I'm not back to 100 per

cent but it's a night and day difference."

Right after MacNeil, 39, had surgery gery in Tychy, Poland, she said she had an energy spike
greater than anything she'd felt for 20 years.

That lasted about six weeks and then she started to deteriorate and, by the
beginning of October, felt very fatigued once more.

"Then my energy started to build again and now I'm at a level where, although
I'm not 100 per cent, I'm very pleased with it," she added.

She puts her energy levels at about 75 per cent, compared with 10 per cent
during the worst periods before she had the surgery.

"I pretty well lived on my couch for two years," she said. "I could never pick my
daughter up from school and now I can everyday. So that's really

special for me."

MacNeil said she's kept current with stories about negative outcomes from the surgery that saw an Ontario man die
from complications due to a blood clot.

"These were all risks that we knew about going in," said MacNeil. "It is a big concern
because, if I do get a blood clot, my country is still letting me down.

They're not going to treat me."

MacNeil said that under the current Canadian health regulations, she'd have to pay for a Doppler
ultrasound to get tested for blood clots.

"That has a $500 price tag and I'd have to travel to Vancouver to do it," she added. For now,
she added, she's doing "very well."

"It's less of a worry for me now," said MacNeil. "I know I still have the disease but I'm feeling
so much better so that when I wake up and do my mental check, I'm very

grateful. Every day is a gift to me now."

She said she's not ready to go back to her "dream job" as an addictions counsellor that
the disease forced her to quit in 2008. "I had to give up my career but

there's hope I can return to it some day," said MacNeil. "This will be

the best Christmas for years. I'm really looking forward to it."

dinwood@theprovince.com