“I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know anything about multiple sclerosis. I just thought it wouldn’t get the better of me and that I’d be able to live with this disease.”
David Molyneux of Toronto has just turned 23. He was 21 when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in January 2008.
“I wasn’t able to walk anymore; I didn’t have any feeling in my legs,” he says. Molyneux spent two weeks in hospital for testing. Then came the final diagnosis. He was forced to abandon his university studies. Since then he has had three serious attacks – one of which left him paralysed from the waist down on the right side of his body.
His mother Linda began doing research on the Internet and became interested in the Zamboni therapy. At a fundraiser she organized for chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) research, she met Sandy McDonald, a doctor at Toronto South Medical Centre, who advised her to take her son to Sofia, Bulgaria.
In recent months, Italy has received over 20,000 requests from all over the world by patients asking for operations or to participate in CCSVI testing – the treatment discovered 10 years ago by Dr. Paolo Zamboni. Molyneux was aware that it wouldn’t be easy to get on the waiting list so he flew directly to Bulgaria where he underwent the so-called “liberation” therapy on June 7.
Two months have passed since the operation.
“I underwent the operation on a Monday and stayed in hospital until Thursday.” The procedure is normally very quick and is done in day hospital. “I was awake the whole time. I knew the procedure exactly. They had to open the veins in my neck to improve blood flow,” he explains. “I’m aware it’s not a permanent cure, but according to many, it’s a treatment that’s headed in the right direction. For others though, it’s full of issues and controversies. But why not try? I caught a flight and we left. I didn’t want to wait any longer. I didn’t want to end up in a wheelchair in a few years.”
Results on CCSVI research published by Zamboni in November 2009 demonstrated that following “liberation” therapy, there was a reduction in the number of attacks, a consistent reduction in the number of new cerebral lesions from multiple sclerosis, and an improvement in lifestyle. Molyneux is, in fact, well now.
“After being admitted to hospital in 2008, I was walking on crutches, and with the help of a cane when I was better,” he says. “Now I can walk normally. Each day is different, however. At times I still feel a bit of discomfort or lack of balance.”
After the operation, Molyneux’s recovery was not easy. His mother explains that he had several blockages in his veins – the biggest being in the right jugular: “Doctors tried to unblock it 12 times and even had to put a stent (small tube)– something that wasn’t necessary in other patients.”
David Molyneux describes those moments.
“The 48 hours after the operation were terrible,” he recalls. “I couldn’t move. They had to put a sort of balloon inside to open the blockage in the neck vein and keep it open. It was very big, so it was painful. Then the pain diminished bit by bit. When I returned to Canada my neck still hurt a bit. For example when I sneeze I feel something in my neck. But each day it gets better. And if you saw me today you’d never know that I was in those conditions a while back.”
Molyneux’s life has changed since his operation. When he used to return from work he would head straight to bed; now he is able to do things that were previously impossible or too difficult. And last week he even managed to play golf twice.
“Before the operation, being tired was a huge problem,” Molyneux says. “Before I got sick, I could do 18 holes of golf and I was fine. Before the operation I was able to do nine and when I got home I would go to sleep right away for a couple of hours. I wasn’t tired last week though. It’s the first sign that my energy is returning. That operation was definitely a good idea.”
