Tears filled the eyes of Tim Donovan, as he smiled and took a few people down the road of his hardship during the New Hope For Multiple Sclerosis 2011 Canada Tour stop in Gander, May 12.
“I almost lost my family.”
He sparkled when he revealed liberation therapy as a new hope, which can save lives. As a new man after receiving liberation therapy, he is on a rescue mission to ensure chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency treatment (CCSVI) takes its proper place in medical facilities across Canada.
“I’ve got my family back. So, do you think I’m excited? You can count on it. I want to share this with everybody across Canada,” said Mr. Donovan, founder of New Hope for Multiple Sclerosis.
The suicide rate for MS victims is seven times the national average. MS is a depressing and debilitating disease. Up until last August, Mr. Donovan was lying in bed for 20 hours a day. His life was passing him by. He felt helpless. So, when somebody came along and said there may be hope for people with MS, he listened. He was thrilled to discover it turned out to be accurate. There is new hope.
MS is caused by damage to the myelin sheath, the protective covering that surrounds nerve cells. When this nerve covering is damaged, nerve impulses are slowed down or stopped. The nerve damage is caused by inflammation, which occurs when the body's immune cells attack the nervous system. It has, in some cases, led to death.
“Canada loses 400 people every year. Somebody’s dying today to MS,” said Mr. Donovan, “and we’re allowing them to die because we’re not treating them. We now have something that may work.”
Liberation therapy, also referred to as CCSVI, was pioneered by Italian surgeon Paolo Zamboni. A balloon angioplasty is used to widen a vein in the neck, which is thought to relieve a build-up of iron in the brain. Many Canadians have been travelling abroad to have this treatment.
Mr. Donovan is appalled that CCSVI has not been offered in Canada, and is determined to bring it home. Through the generosity of people, he has been armed with an entourage, a vehicle and an RV to drive across the country to promote liberation therapy as a necessary alternative treatment in Canada.
“We’re still looking for fuel. It’s expensive. Every time we stop it’s $100, but this is all being sponsored by individuals and communities. People with MS don’t have money because they don’t work. I haven’t worked in 20 years. Joan and Pat Slaney took me into their home and they fed me steak last night. People like this make it all worthwhile,” Mr. Donovan said warmly.
He expressed gratitude to Mayor Claude Elliott to be one of the first municipalities, aside from his own in Fredericton, NB, to support his cause.
“MS is like cancer, in that many have been affected by it. It’s a good cause,” said Mayor Elliott, who presented a donation toward their cause last Friday at Gander town hall.
http://www.ganderbeacon.ca/News/2011-05-24/article-2530757/A-%26lsquo%3BNew-Hope%26rsquo%3B-for-MS/1