







"My cousin was diagnosed with MS," an aquaintance told me, "but she is one of these people never lets anything beat her. She was just determined it wouldn't change her life, and she has just carried on!"
"What do you mean, she just carried on?" I asked. "What symptoms does she have?"
"Oh, all sorts of things, it's definitely multiple sclerosis all right," said the acquaintance, "but she never lets anything beat her. She's been skiing twice, since she found out she got it, and she is determined she is just going to keep on skiing and doing everything she wants to do. Maree is a very determined person!"
"How long has she had it?" I asked.
"Quite a long while, I think. But Maree is a person, she just won't let it get on top of her. She will just keep on doing what she wants to do. Determination, that's what Maree has."
Well gee whiz, that's great for Maree. Never mind that the corollary is: Don and all the other MS sufferers struggling with their increasing disability simply didn't have enough "determination".
It's like people in remission from cancer, who say, "I didn't let it beat me." As if they are personally responsible for the wonderful gift of the remission.
Stop the research, don't worry about testing new cures for MS. Just pump everyone up with grit and determination, and make sure they don't "let it get on top of them", and it will all go away ...
When Don had his MS diagnosis confirmed at the MS Clinic at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, we received one great word of encouragement: Professor Pollard, head of the clinic, said that there was so much research going on in MS that he was confident there would be a cure within two years. Probably not something that could reverse the condition, however, so it was important to keep healthy, keep up the exercise, and hope to stave off the decline as long as possible.
We clung to that confident prediction, by so eminent a person. But that was in August 2005, and by August 2007 we were very aware that the two years had come and gone, and still no cure.
But you read the literature, and it seems that every day there is a new cure being touted! Here are just a few I've gleaned over the past week:
* A new pharmaceutical compound called MN-166 slows the rate of deterioration markedly http://www.rttnews.com/sp/breakingnews.asp?date=04/07/2008&item=35&vid=0
* Caffeine: Mice given caffeine the equivalent a human drinking of 6-8 cups of coffee per day were protected from developing the animal version of MS http://www.generef.com/newsstory.rss.html?pid=49903
* A new medication (unnamed) targeting lymphocytes (white blood cells) stops MS in its tracks http://www.reenabled.org/2008/04/07/multiple-sclerosis-stopped-in-its-tracks
* MS may be caused by the HHS-6 virus, so can be treated with antibiotics http://gwbandt.com/antibiotics/why-i-prescribe-antibiotics.htm
* You can protect nerve fibres by deactivating protein http://scamparoo.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/deactivating-protein-may-protect-nerve-fibers-in-multiple-sclerosis/
* A protein called collagenase-2 looks like a breakthrough success in MS treatment http://03530.com/2008/04/02/potential-new-target-for-multiple-sclerosis-therapy.html
And so on and so on.
Well, we live in hope, of course. But I did have my faith pinned on that two-year prediction of Professor Pollard,