At forty two dark haired petite Jaquie Boreen is a lovely young woman with a husband and family.

When sitting if you don’t look too closely you would’nt notice anything unusual  except that at the peak of her youth she was diagnosed with MS, a condition that became more debilitating with each passing year. 

On August 1 of this year Jaquie took a leap of faith and with great courage went to Mexico for an experimental surgical treatment that is yet to be available here in Canada.  People are going to Poland, Costa Rica, India and Mexico she says to me.  Then she takes the fingers of her right hand and presses each one to her thumb in an effortless motion.  “I haven’t been able to do this for years, I have no more pain, no tremors and I have feeling in my feet.  This is the best thing I ever did.  I went to Kabos San Lucas, the hospital was very good, very clean, an ordinary hospital with very professional nurses and doctors who spoke English”.

Jaquie says that the MS Society should be backing those suffering from MS by telling the drug companies not to pump them with so many drugs that don’t really give them any relief. She was the 110th person to receive this treatment in the hospital she was in she says and so far she hasn’t experienced one negative result and  they have told her to keep in touch so they can follow her progress.  “This is like a plumbing problem; everyone getting this treatment had a vein problem, if they can fix a healthy person with this problem why not those with MS? I definitely would recommend this procedure to everyone suffering with MS.
 
Dave Boreen, Jacquie’s husband says, “No single medication has helped like this, she had allergic reactions to many of them, after this hour and half procedure she got immediate relief.”

She can now move her head down touching chin to chest without getting a bolt of shooting pain.

Jaquie was told that she could die or suffer strokes while having this procedure done and still she took the chance. This decision shows the desperation felt by MS sufferers, she says.

Some people have said that the relief felt is only temporary “I don’t care, if it disappears, at least I’ve had a vacation from the pain,” she responds with conviction in her voice.
 
What Jaquie had done is a clearing of veins, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, this is a condition called “Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency, a reported abnormality in blood drainage from the brain and spinal cord that may contribute to nervous system damage in MS”.  The Society’s website says that this hypothesis has been put forth by Dr.Paolo Zamboni from the University of Ferrara in Italy.

Dr. Zamboni wife’s had this surgery done with good results but the doctor and his colleagues state that “the pilot study done warrants a subsequent larger and a better controlled study to definitively evaluate the possible impact of CCSVI on the disease process and have recommended larger scale studies.”

But for people like Jaquie time to wait isn’t a luxury they can afford either emotionally or physically.  They aren’t waiting around for proof, they are willing to try out the procedure and seeing and feeling the good results is enough proof for them.
 
It’s interesting to note that in Sunday’s Globe and Mail, writer Gloria Galloway reported that “hundreds expected to agitate for approval of controversial liberation therapy.  They have started Facebook pages, organized rallies, signed petitions and are threatening legal action in a bid to force Health Canada to expedite approval of the therapy.”

She goes on to say that the anger is not only directed at Government and  Health Canada but also to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.