Scots mum with MS says £50k treatment abroad is 'last hope' of halting disease

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A mum who has lived with multiple sclerosis for over a decade says a £50,000 treatment unavailable on the NHS could be her last shot at living a life largely unhindered by the disease.Jodie McQuillian, 32, was formally diagnosed with the chronic condition in 2015, a few years after the first signs appeared when she temporarily lost vision in her left eye.Since then, she has undergone multiple treatments and bouts of physiotherapy in order to stave off relapses of the condition.

But the mum of one faces life in a wheelchair if she can't put a halt to the rampant flare-ups. Multiple sclerosis, often known as MS, is a condition where the immune system mistakenly attacks nerves around the brain and spinal cord, affecting the body's ability to transmit signals properly.

Each time Jodie "relapses" - when her body launches a new attack on itself - she finds herself sapped of energy and often experiences issues with her sight and mobility.It takes her months to recover from each flare-up, affecting the time she can spend with son Ethan, five, and her family.And every time there's a relapse, a little bit of her doesn't come back.

Jodie, from Alloa, told the Record: "I've just had another relapse and everything I'm trying isn't really effective enough. "Since I started my newest treatment my walking has gotten a lot worse."Every time you relapse you recover but it takes months and you get put on a high dose of steroids and that drains you of all your muscle."I'm always left a wee bit damaged from a relapse - and when I feel like I've sort of recovered they flare up again." After experiencing a major flare-up when she gave birth to Ethan, Jodie began undergoing treatment for MS, trying every drug available on the NHS in a bid to