Experimental multiple sclerosis therapy stops disease in its tracks
The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa have received a $4.2 million grant to support a clinical trial for stem cell therapy targeted at multiple sclerosis patients.
One Pointe-Claire man says he knows from personal experience that the treatment — mesenchymal stem cell therapy — could give someone with MS a new chance at life.
AlexandreNormandin was diagnosed eight years ago, in his third year of medical school at McGill University.
He said what started out as a little numbness on his left temple, turned out to be rapidly progressing MS.
"The way it was going, it wouldn't be surprising, within months [or] years, to wind up in a wheelchair," he told .CBC's Daybreak host Mike Finnerty.
When he found out about an experimental bone marrow stem-cell transplant at the Ottawa General hospital in 2008, he didn't hesitate to sign up.
The treatment was risky — Normandin had to go through 15 days of chemotherapy in order to completely wipe his immune system and eliminate the mutation that caused his MS.
But it worked.
Years later, Normandin runs his own medical practice.
"The progression of the disease has been fully stopped … I still have some fatigue, I still have some issues with balance, but in general compared with what the alternative would have been, I think it's a miracle cure," he said.
"It's allowed me to sort of lead a normal life, which is all I've ever wanted. It's not fully normal but it's the closest to normal that it could have been."
