MS patient 'pain-free' since stem cell therapy

THE wife of a multiple sclerosis suffererspoke yesterday of how her husband's life had been transformed after he received controversial stem cell treatment at an Irish surgery which is now at the centre of an investigation by medical authorities.

Mark Westwell, 45, of Kilmaluag, Balmacqueen, on Skye, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987. He is now confined to a wheelchair and has suffered from intense and debilitating pain for more than a decade.

But it was revealed yesterday that Mr Westwell has been free of pain since he travelled to a GP's surgery in Cork to receive the stem cell treatment last Thursday.

His wife Carole, 43, said the impact of the £12,500 treatment had been "dramatic and astounding", within hours.

She said: "When Mark woke up the next morning he was without pain for the first time since 1994. Mark got very emotional and couldn't get the words out and then eventually he just managed to say 'No pain ... no pain'.

"The effect the treatment has had on him has been shockingly dramatic. And he has had no pain since."

She said she and her husband had first read about the controversial new stem cell treatment, pioneered by Advanced Cell Therapeutics, a Swiss biotechnology company, last summer and decided to travel to a doctor's surgery where the treatment is being provided.

The Irish Medicines Board confirmed two weeks ago that it was investigating the provision of unlicensed stem cell therapy in the Cork region, but has refused to comment further while inquiries are taking place.