By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
Darrell Foster remembers the first time he heard about a breakthrough procedure for multiple sclerosis patients. It was a Friday and his father called to tell him to watch the evening news.
“As soon as I heard how simple the science was and how promising the treatment could be for this disease, I grasped a whole new hope that I’d not experienced in my 12 years since being diagnosed,” he says. “It was very exciting, and my statement was if this does not come to me, then I will go to it.”
And this is just what Foster is doing.
On Aug. 23 he will go to the John Paul II Hospital in Poland with the goal of receiving CCSVI treatment.
CCSVI – chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency – or liberation treatment, is based on the research of Italian doctor and vascular surgeon Dr. Paolo Zamboni, who says MS can be treated by unblocking veins that carry blood from the brain. He has devised a treatment that is similar to angioplasty. It involves removing the blockage in neck and upper chest veins by inserting and inflating balloons, or placing a stent in the vein. In 2009 he published a study claiming the treatment was highly successful.
The research has caught the attention of MS patients worldwide. Many have travelled to the few places in the world that offer the treatment. Canada is not one of those places.
Last week Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said his government will fund Canada’s first clinical trials of the controversial procedure. But other provinces are reluctant or refuse to go this route because they say there isn’t enough science to back up the procedure, only anecdotal evidence.
For his part, Foster wants to see the treatment brought to Canada but he doesn’t think it’s necessary to go the clinical trial route with neurologists and MS clinics first.
“I would argue that maybe clinical trials are not needed because it’s not a medication, it’s a procedure,” he says. “And it’s a safe procedure that’s been around for years for cardiac patients.”
Foster was around 30 years old when he had his first MS attack. At the time the doctors thought he might have had a stroke, an aneurism or a brain tumour.
“My first attack was severe. My speech, over a weekend, became very slurred to the point that you couldn’t understand what I was saying.” He also had numbness in his hand.
In 1998 the diagnosis of MS was made.
In the years since he has had more attacks – that would, in his words, knock him off his feet – and his symptoms have worsened. For 10 years he took Interferon injections three times a week. Last year it was determined the injections were no longer effective so he started chemotherapy, but the results have been minimal.
Still, Foster has remained positive.
“My choice has never to been to sit in a corner and let this wear me down,” he says. “Sometimes the struggles are overwhelming but I found ways in my own perseverance to conquer those symptoms and go on.”
But whether he wants to admit it or not, he can’t do it alone, or rather he shouldn’t have to. Which is why Foster’s family and friend’s have organized a benefit to help raise the $15,000 it will cost for him to seek the liberation treatment in Poland.
The benefit will be held Saturday, Aug. 14 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Twin Village Social Club in Amirault’s Hill and will include seafood chowder and rappie pie sales, entertainment, a bake sale and a Chinese auction. A trust fund has also been set up and people can make donations at any branch of the credit union.
Foster, meanwhile, has spoken with people who have received the liberation treatment. They have told him that their symptoms have improved remarkably, even immediately. And four or five months beyond the procedure they are continuing to experience improvements.
“I’m aware I could be influenced by false hope, but I don’t believe it’s false hope,” he says. “I believe in the science.”
Besides, says Foster, what does he have to lose? He knows what lies ahead.
Foster says aside from his own personal approach to his MS, he gets inspiration from his job. He is the executive director of the Kaye Nickerson Centre.
“I’ve learned one thing from working with adults with special needs. You do what you can do with what you’ve got,” he says. “It may sound simple, but it’s really profound.”
Much like the research of Dr. Zamboni, he says.
“Who would have guessed that a chronic illness like MS was finally going to meet its match? It took an Italian doctor whose own wife was suffering from the condition to undergo a labour of passion to find a treatment,” says Foster. “It’s touching for me just to be involved with a procedure that is going to improve my health based on a level of passion.”
