Jayne Morrow from Ilfracombe says her life has improved dramatically since taking a radical new treatment.

AN Ilfracombe woman says her life has been transformed after she travelled to Bulgaria to undergo a radical new treatment for multiple sclerosis.

The North Devon Gazette reported last year how MS sufferer Jayne Morrow, 42, had pinned her hopes on a pioneering “liberation treatment” which challenged established medical thinking on the debilitating condition.

In 2009 Italian doctor Paulo Zamboni claimed MS was caused by blockages to veins which connect to the brain, not a problem with the immune system – and he could remove many symptoms by re-opening veins using a straightforward angioplasty procedure.

Jayne was diagnosed with MS three years ago and was keen to raise awareness both of it and the possibility of an effective treatment. She had called on the NHS to recognise it and the benefits it brought.

MS causes extreme fatigue, numbness, loss of coordination, problems with vision and speech.

The mum of three said she could not wait for the wheels of medical bureaucracy to turn and in November she and husband David travelled to Varna in Bulgaria through Bulgaria Medical Tourism where she underwent CCSVI (chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency) treatment at one of the city’s main hospitals.

Keyhole

A scan in Edinburgh and another in Bulgaria showed one of the veins in Jayne’s neck was kinked and restricting blood supply. The keyhole procedure involved inserting a tube through a vein in her leg and then using a balloon to expand the faulty vein.

Jayne was awake throughout and told the Gazette the treatment had been no worse than a trip to the dentist.

And she could not believe the difference afterwards:

“My immediate reaction was it was just like the difference between watching ordinary TV and watching it in HD!” she said.

“I have been transformed in my body from how I was last year – looking at pictures from the time I was worn and tired, but this has made such a difference.

“Before I was very weak in my legs and could not walk far. I had horrendous night sweats, often had to sleep during the day, a miss-beat in my heart and cold feet. All that has gone.”

David said they saw the difference when they walked on the Caspian Sea beach at Varna after she had recovered from the procedure – the day before Jayne had managed less than 20 minutes; afterwards it was nearer to an hour and-a-half.

“It has given Jayne a new lease of life, so that she is capable of doing normal things again,” he said.

Guarded

“After the treatment we were very guarded and didn’t want to get carried away. But when we got back to Luton airport we had to walk a long way from the plane to the baggage area – and about halfway through Jayne realised she was doing it all without stopping for a single rest.”

The trip and the operation cost some £4,000 from their savings but the couple were incredibly impressed by the Bulgarian facilities and medical staff. They said nothing had been too much trouble, they were hosted in a five star hotel and every step of the process was explained to them.

The treatment is still not available in the UK and the couple are passionate about continuing to raise awareness and re-doubling their call for it to be introduced here. “Hopefully in the future the NHS will take the treatment on, because it should be fairly available to everyone,” said Jayne.

http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/ms_sufferer_is_transformed_by_liberation_treatment_1_780410