AN IRISH woman with multiple sclerosis says she has been overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers in raising money for life-changing treatment.
Niamh Wishart, 35, from Leixlip in Co. Kildare was diagnosed with the disease in 2006, while studying pharmacy at the University of Brighton.
She is raising £60,000 to travel to Russia for ground-breaking stem cell treatment in September.
“It was around November 2005 when we decided we’d start cycling in and out of uni,” the mum-of-two explained.
“I had a numbness and tingling in my leg but put it down to the cycling.
'I went to the doctor he said it was more than likely sciatica.
“It took until July of 2006 to be diagnosed, I’d been referred to a neurologist and I went in and said ‘I have MS and I need this drug’.
"He said we don’t know that yet - but I knew.”
After returning to Ireland, Ms Wishart met her husband Scott, from Glenrothes in Scotland, and began her treatment.
Various drugs were tried but relapses meant moving on to the next medication.
She currently uses a rollator for short distances and a wheelchair for longer journeys.
On the disability scale, Niamh is a 6.5, with 0 being normal and 10 being dead.
She fears another relapse would render her permanently wheelchair bound.
“One more relapse could make me a 7 on the scale and nobody would treat me then,” she said.
Niamh will arrive in Russia in September for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
The treatment takes a month and involves harvesting stem cells followed by intensive chemotherapy to kill off existing cells, then new stem cells are replanted into her body in the hope that the new immune system would be free from MS.
Though it could stop the disease in its tracks, it costs €70,000 (around £60,000) so Niamh began to raise money and has so far raised £16,000, due to the kindness of strangers.
“A guy in the UK who’s my friend’s husband’s half sister’s boyfriend is shaving his head and beard for me - like who is he? I know him now though,” she laughed.
Niamh and her husband Scott“Another woman in Brighton organised a coffee morning for me and I’ve never met her, it’s just been amazing. It’s what gets me through the bad days.
“So anyone else who wants to hold a coffee morning or a quiz or anything for me, it would be greatly appreciated!”
“MS is relentless, it’s exhausting, and for the first time, this is my chance to live as normal a life as possible.
“I don’t want my daughters to look back on their childhood thinking ‘Mammy was always in bed’.”
