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Almost immediately after the procedure, they noticed results.

"His eyes were bright and shiny, his fingers and toes were pink and warm, and he had substance," she said. "It's hard to explain, but he looked different."

"I could breathe," recalled Jim. The so-called MS hug -a feeling of tightness or constriction in the chest that makes it difficult to draw a deep breath -was gone.

What was slowly coming back, in addition to his strength, his energy, his colour and his sense of mental clarity, was a feeling of hope.

Simply raising his right hand to hold hers -something he hasn't been able to do for years -brought tears to her eyes the first time he did it.

Other things that most adults take for granted -feeding himself, coughing, blowing his own nose -are now considered milestones in his recovery, achievements to be celebrated.

"I feel like a toddler," he said with a smile, drawing a laugh from his wife.

Based on his own remarkable progress, which Paula has carefully tracked in a detailed log, and which an occupational therapist has confirmed in an analysis of his improved range of motion, the Thomsons unreservedly recommend that others with MS consider the Liberation treatment.

Jacobs said that within five hours of having the procedure, she was able to lift her legs and stand up, things she hadn’t done for years.

“I couldn’t transfer myself from my wheelchair to a chair before without dragging my legs. Now I can stand for a few minutes and move myself over,” said Jacobs.

“It’s changed my life,” says Jacobs, smiling. “I can even visit friends’ houses who have stairs. I haven’t done that for eight years.”

Reid decided to have the procedure after seeing how well his sister did. ... Jacobs said her brother had almost completely lost the use of his hands, which were curled tight in a ball. Now, he’s able to slowly open them.

"It always felt like I had ice water in my veins. My feet and legs were always so cold and stiff. And painful. My feet are pink again, and warm and not so swollen. There's flexibility. The blood is flowing again.

"I have some movement in one of my arms, and my left hand. I can put my arm by my side. Before I couldn't. The pain and stiffness in my body has been alleviated. And it's easier for me to breathe.

"I told my physiotherapist I wanted to sit up by myself on the edge of the bed. I sat for about 40 minutes without back support. I haven't been able to do that for four years. I used to have a feeling of fogginess in my head. I don't have that now."

"I'm not mad at God anymore. For me, it's a miracle."

When she awoke in recovery, the first thing she did was look at her hands.

Sharon's MS had left her unable to move her right hand, but almost immediately the feeling returned. She says she brought her hands up in a praying motion, in awe of the movement that had come so quickly.

Over the past seven years, Sharon's ability to walk had disappeared and she spent the past two years confined to her wheelchair.

"Things are coming back now," she says with a smile, explaining that she's now able to take a few brief steps.

Once plagued with positional vertigo, her dizziness has disappeared and her balance has returned, he says. With movement in her hands, she's also able to feed herself and do other daily tasks she previously could not.

"I couldn't even hold a pen before, and now I can write," she says, joking that she's taken back the job of paying bills from her husband.

“He has improved,” she said. “He’s walking around with a walker more and I don’t even have the wheelchair in the house anymore. Before, he just barely could make it to the car with the walker, now he’s going all over the house. The swelling went down right after the operation and the circulation in his feet improved right away – they used to be really blue and that’s gone, and they’re warmer, too.”

Cam’s able to stay up later at night as well – he was even able to take in the World Series – and can sit at a dining room chair to eat supper with Renate at night.

His legs often tremored through the night, but that has also stopped since the treatment.

Within a day of treatment, the 27-year-old said he was already getting back much of the feeling he lost from the disease and, within a week, he was working out at a gym.

He said he’s back to living a normal lifestyle and the “cloud” — as he referred to his MS — is gone.

Occasionally, O’Reilly will get a little twinge.

So far, the Venture Kamloops employee is nearly symptom-free.

He said he came back from the surgery, which opens up clogged neck veins, with more energy and strength and less pain, able to feel more warmth in his limbs.

"I'm walking much better. My coordination's much better. Things are really starting to look much better. I'm encouraged," the 57-year-old said.

She felt better instantly.

Smith’s sister, Denise Cuthbertson, is one of many success stories the treatment has produced. Cuthbertson, who spent approximately $14,000 to have a liberation treatment in Costa Rica last November, no longer walks with a cane and is relieved from the headache and tingling limbs she was prone to.

"I hope this procedure doesn't have to be a cure for it to be worthwhile for other patients," Martin said.

"My symptoms are probably 20 to 30 per cent better. I don't feel fatigued as much; I'm able to walk that little bit farther."

"Because of this my circulation has definitely improved and I do have more energy," she said. "To me it was definitely a good thing and it was worth the money.

"I'm not regressing."

"I was anticipating better recovery," Hanley said, estimating her improvement at 20 per cent.

“Last year this time, I was 32 pounds heavier. I couldn’t walk 60 metres unassisted, without my cane. No clarity of thought. No energy. I wanted to sleep all the time. It was terrible.”

Since his liberation treatment last summer, Mr. Duffy said he feels like a new man.

“Now I don’t ever use the cane, and the muscles that had atrophied have grown back. My energy levels are better than they have been in 20 years, so for me it’s really something.”

Mark Lane of St. John’s has also battled with MS, and improved significantly since the liberation treatment both medically and physically. These findings have been observed and documented by Dr. Stefanelli.

In their experience, liberation treatment has helped heal Mr. Lane and Mr. Duffy beyond their expectations. Before the treatment, these men could barely function. Post-treatment, they are fully functioning human beings.

"I notice things that I wasn't accustomed to," McLaughlin said in an interview. "My eyesight is crisper. I feel less pain in my legs. I realize that it's not like being hit by lightning, but I am just amazed at the clarity."

McLaughlin said his brain fog seems to be lifting and his word-search ability is back to normal.

"This is not a placebo effect. I have a pair of eyeglasses that I used last week to read my computer, and (now) I put the glasses on and I cannot see the computer. It's like someone turned on a light switch."

His wife, Karen McLaughlin, said she has seen a gradual improvement in her husband but is remaining guarded.

"He is generally feeling a bit more energized," she said. "He is feeling better and his speech is clearer."

At the start of this year, Dianne Hartwick was sleeping 14 hours each night, crawling up stairs on all fours because it hurt too much to stand upright and losing so much muscle control that she couldn't lift a plate out of the cupboard.

Now the 54-year-old smiles radiantly when she demonstrates to The Examiner that she can walk up those stairs just fine. She then goes over to the kitchen to reach up to the cupboard and easily lifts a casserole dish out of the cupboard, waving it over her head triumphantly.

She says she's back to sleeping only a few hours per night and having plenty of energy in the mornings.

After resting, following the procedure, she got up to go the washroom and says she sat on the toilet easily, without needing to hold onto a wall to balance herself or squatting in pain.

She says she got dressed without needing to lean on a chair.

"And I had feeling across my back," she says. "I thought maybe it was false hope but all I knew was that I could sit down without holding onto a chair."

"The fatigue and confusion are gone and I'm back to sleeping from midnight to 4 a.m. and I'm happy to do it!" she says with a laugh. "I feel liberated because I can drive without pain and fatigue."