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http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/news/article/1423393,moderated
A St. Stephen woman with a limited income plundered most of her precious savings to receive treatment in Rhode Island for multiple sclerosis, a disease that left her debilitated for years.
Photo: Mary-Ellen Saunders/Telegraph-Journal
Rilda Kierstead, of St. Stephen, holds a photo of her grandson Noah Marshall, who she says she is able to see more often after having liberation treatment for her multiple sclerosis.
Liberation therapy, the controversial procedure not offered in Canada, was a glimmer of hope for Rilda Kierstead, who suffered from chronic fatigue that made simple tasks such as getting out of bed exceedingly difficult.
And she believed the New Brunswick's Progressive Conservative government would have reimbursed some of her expenses, having promised in last year's election to offer financial relief for MS patients seeking treatment out of province.
Now, after many of her agonizing symptoms have subsided following her treatment, she's still left with the hole in her bank account because the government has refused to cover any of her expenses.
"I really, really thought about going to have this done because it was a lot of money and I knew it would leave me practically broke as far as my savings went," said Kierstead, who lives off pension income and spent about $8,000 on treatment, travel and accommodations.
"I felt let down, very much let down, because one of the reasons I voted for the Conservative government in this election was because that was part of their platform, that they would help people go and get this (treatment) done out of the province."
In June, Kierstead had thought the Tories delivered on their promise when they announced a program that would offer MS patients up to $2,500 for receiving treatment outside New Brunswick.
But a government official told her after she filed her application that she didn't qualify for relief because she paid for the treatment by herself. The program requires that MS patients prove third parties raised money on their behalf.
Finance Minister Blaine Higgs, whose department is administering the program, did not respond to requests for comment over the past two days.
Kierstead couldn't understand the logic behind the criterion. Patients, she said, whose expenses were paid for by a fundraiser would be less likely to need reimbursement than those who covered the costs of treatment and travel out of their own pockets.
"I wouldn't expect anybody to have a fundraiser for me," she said. "I just moved here last September, so I don't know a whole lot of people."
Liberation therapy, developed by an Italian physician named Dr. Paolo Zamboni, is a surgical procedure that opens blocked or narrowed veins in MS patients.
The treatment is said to open up blood flow to the brain and there have been reports of treated patients seeing their symptoms subside, as was the case with Kierstead. But the procedure is still considered to be unproven in this country and at least two Canadians have died as a result of the procedure.
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada does not condone the treatment, arguing it is not yet backed by "rigorous scientific evidence."
The federal government recently announced it would fund clinical trials of the treatment, something Kierstead warmly welcomed, although she said the findings would not affect her, but may help her children or grandchildren if they contract the disease.
After receiving the treatment last month, she said she feels much better and hopes to confirm the improvements aren't temporary during follow-up visits with physicians. Her voice, which had become weak, grew stronger, and her feet, once cold, became warmer. Best of all, she was no longer incredibly tired, as she was before she travelled to the Rhode Island Vascular Institute for treatment.
Her greatest breakthrough was having the strength to head down to Maine to see her two-year-old grandson, Noah.
"Since I've had this procedure, I go down and we play together and I take him outside and I spend three or four hours with him, and I have the energy to drive home and go shopping," she said.
"It's been a whole new world. People say, 'You're fatigued, so what?' But it can really, really debilitate you so that you don't want to do anything. And when you're that tired it also causes you to be very depressed."