EIGHT years after doctors told her she had multiple sclerosis, Kay Jarrett is going to the gym regularly, taking walks and doing things that had been impossible for a couple of decades.
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“I haven’t felt this good in years,” she said enthusiastically.
“It’s like I’ve had new batteries put in.”
The difference has come about through a revolutionary form of stem cell therapy undertaken at a clinic in Queensland.
Kay’s story has strong parallels to one aired last week on television show Sixty Minutes, detailing how a young mother had to travel to Russia for stem cell treatment to stop her continued decline caused by multiple sclerosis.
While treatment meant the woman on television was able to start jogging after a previously being confined to a wheelchair, Kay said the differences in her life might have been less dramatic but they were equally important to her.
“I have a whole new lease on life now,” Kay said.
That difference was illustrated in the days following the Milton Show.
Kay works in the show’s horse ring each year and said the effort exhausted her so much she normally spent a week in bed after the show.
However this year she was up and about the next day, able to continue with her life without the need for recovery time.
“It’s wonderful, I feel like a new person,” she said.
Kay’s transformation came through a seven-hour procedure in a Queensland medical clinic, which started with fat tissue being removed from her abdomen.
Fat tissue is rich with adult stem cells, which can differentiate into a range of different cells around the body.
The stem cells were then separated from the remainder of the fatty tissue, before the stem cells were mixed into a solution fed back into Kay’s blood system though an intravenous drip, along with medication to aid the cells being absorbed into her system and repair damage caused by the multiple sclerosis.
Once the swelling died down Kay was up and about, enjoying the things that had been difficult for many years.
Even walking has provided a new-found pleasure, as regular leg spasms and a tendency to stumble and fall, previously combined with the fatigue so often associated with MS, making it difficult to get about.
She has even managed to reduce the amount of medication she takes each day, and her memory has improved.
While she previous spent much of her life isolated from the rest of the world, Kay has plans to “get back out there”.
“I want to live life to the fullest now I feel better,” she said.
She is also determined to continue fundraising to help others cover the cost of stem cell treatments, as costs could top $12,000.
“I want to help others have stem cell treatment and feel as good as I do,” she explained.
“I know a few people in the local area who desperately need it, but I need the town to get behind me to support the fundraising.”
