Calls for ‘life-changing’ MS treatment in NZ
A former operating theatre nurse with multiple sclerosis is calling for stem cell treatment to be funded in New Zealand.
Anne Besley, 51, travelled to India at the end of 2019 for the treatment which she said ‘‘changed my life’’. Besley, from Green Bay in West Auckland, and her mother Joan Perry have now started a petition to the government. They hope to make the treatment accessible in New Zealand for others with multiple sclerosis.
Since the treatment, Besley has said her MS, which is an often disabling disease of the central nervous system, has gone into remission, and she has been able to return to work part-time as a Covid-19 vaccinator.
Before Besley had her treatment, she had to leave her job at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital because she was dropping things, having memory issues, and was in constant pain. She said hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), which is used in New Zealand for some forms of cancer, but not available for MS, saved her life.
Besley went to New Delhi, India, for the treatment, which came at a cost of $42,000. It involves harvesting stem cells from the bone marrow, followed by chemotherapy to shut down the faulty immune system. Stem cells are then put back in the body to grow a new, healthy immune system.
‘‘It’s frustrating because the treatment is already available here in New Zealand for people with blood and bone marrow cancer, but not for people with MS. There’s so much red tape,’’ Besley said. Multiple Sclerosis Society of New Zealand vice-president Neil Woodhams, who is supporting the petition, said the society had been pushing for HSCT to be available for MS patients in New Zealand since 2017.
‘‘It’s on the Ministry of Health’s radar, we’ve seen a significant amount of interest around it – we met with the ministry in 2017 to push them to engage with us and clinicians, to establish the criteria under which it might become available.’’
Woodhams said evidence from overseas trials had shown that for some MS sufferers, HSCT is a ‘‘valid and useful treatment’’.
Perry said Besley had been lucky to get her treatment in India before the Covid-19 pandemic began – but now travel overseas for treatment isn’t an option for most.