This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

She doesn't need a cane to walk anymore, she can stand on her tip toes, she can walk backwards, and her speech has even improved remarkably.

she has colour in her cheeks that she's never seen before.

Sarah says she is reaping the benefits as her speech and hands have improved and she no longer suffers from fatigue.

Liz Smith, of Chester, has now had the chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) treatment after being inspired by Sarah.

“The improvements are amazing. I can now feel the clothes on my legs.”

Since having the procedure, MacQueen said she has had no numbness, tingling or spasticity in her muscles. The heat intolerance and bladder spasms are also gone.

MacQueen said her balance has improved enough that she is able to ride a bicycle again — including to physiotherapy, where she's working at strengthening her muscles.

Lee Chuckery, 42, of Calgary, had the procedure in Egypt in June.

"I can't get around any better than I did before, but I do feel stronger," said Chuckery.

“I had feeling back in my hands and feet and I could even see better out of my left eye. Almost everyday I am discovering that I can do things I couldn’t do before the surgery. I am looking forward to walking and doing all the normal things. I have a new lease on life.”

After the surgery, Clayton is able to raise her left foot, something that hasn’t been possible for 25 years. She can now cross her legs and walk up and down stairs unaided.

Clayton’s sister and Irricana resident Gwen Morris said she sees a remarkable difference in her sibling.

“There are so many things she couldn’t do before that she is having no trouble with now,” said Morris.

"My pain is gone," she said Monday on the steps of the Manitoba legislature. "I was at the point where I wanted cut off my arm because of the pain."

Before the operation Phyllis was constantly in pain, with Neil often putting hot compresses on her in the middle of the night as she cried out in agony. She couldn’t move her right arm or her head, even speaking was becoming a challenge and her memory was going.

But now just a couple of months after the surgery, although Phyllis is still in a wheelchair she has seen a world of difference in her comfort levels. She is dropping the amount of morphine she needs to use and thinks very shortly she may not have to use it at all. She can move her right arm and her head from side to side.

Phyllis can carry on a good conversation easily and her memory is fine again.

“The biggest thing for me is the pain is gone,” Neil said. Before the operation his wife of 35 years was as pale as a sheet of loose leaf paper, but he has seen the colour go back into her cheeks.

She started feeling the results the moment she woke up. Within minutes she was lifting her legs and standing on her tip-toes when the previous day she shuffled along with the help of a walker.

"I'm standing here. I've been standing here a long time. I couldn't stand here that long, not without grabbing you and holding you. I'm standing pretty steady," McIntosh said moments after a 45-minute presentation to a group at the Riverview Village Estates on Sept. 16.

"I can walk. I can get up and walk. I can sit all evening and watch tv without pain and spasticity in my legs. I still have a feeling in the back of my legs, like pins and needles, but it's nothing compared to what it was."

For years Cardinall suffered with symptoms like extreme fatigue, ongoing chills, loss of appetite, confusion, leg cramps, dizziness, eye problems and an inability to walk because her legs were numb from the hips down. Immediately after the CCSVI surgery, colour came back to Cardinall’s face and her eyes, and her appetite came back.

“Apparently my body was being starved of oxygen all those years. Every symptom of my MS was reversed within hours of having the procedure done,” Cardinall said.

Her feet are less swollen and purple in colour and her hands are steadier, while she no longer needs her walker, but can get around by with the help of a cane, including a rise in her energy levels.

Colm, who was treated in June, says he has noticed a big improvement in his vision and intolerance to heat, another MS symptom. He adds: “My energy levels have also improved by about 70 per cent.”

The tingly "electric shock" feeling she had endured in her arm disappeared. She could feel warmth returning to her right leg, and the tiles on the ceiling of the treatment room, which had appeared beige, were suddenly white.

"I've had such a huge improvement in vision," she said.

Since the treatment, Skinner said her balance has been restored, she no longer suffers from intense headaches, her tremours have vanished, her speech is improved and she has more energy and stamina.

I feel better — more alert, more alive, and most of my symptoms have disappeared.

"[My husband] told me now when he holds my hand it feels real," she said. "'Because sometimes when I held your hands it was like holding a mannequin's hand.' And I do have more energy; I don't get as tired as quickly."

"Halfway we got to the curling rink and he said, 'Aren't you tired yet?'

"I actually stopped and said, 'no, I'm not.'"

"I noticed an immediate improvement. Overall, I had more energy I felt better and I was just looking forward to feeling, you know, a little better every day." Betty remembers.

"Right after the treatment I would say I felt 25 per cent better. Within a couple of weeks of the treatment, I definitely felt about 50 per cent better."

But she thinks either the stents have blocked with blood clots, or the veins have re-narrowed, because the benefits of the treatment are now gone.

"I feel worse than before the treatment. Yes, right now I do," she says.