Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a nervous system disease that affects your brain and spinal cord. It damages the myelin sheath, the material that surrounds and protects your nerve cells. This damage slows down or blocks messages between your brain and your body, leading to the symptoms of MS. They can include:
- Visual disturbances
- Muscle weakness
- Trouble with coordination and balance
- Sensations such as numbness, prickling, or “pins and needles”
- Thinking and memory problems
No one knows what causes MS. It may be an autoimmune disease, which happens when your body attacks itself. Multiple sclerosis affects women more than men. It often begins between the ages of 20 and 40. Usually, the disease is mild, but some people lose the ability to write, speak or walk.
This disease was once very rare in Kuwait, but the number of MS patients in Kuwait has escalated rapidly to 18,000 cases of Kuwaiti Nationality only. No one knows why the number of MS patients has grown so viciously in recent years, but the effects of MS on its victims are brutal. Any possible neurological symptoms can affect an MS patient, including but not limited to, extensive depression which can even lead to eventual suicide.
However, when Dr Paolo Zamboni’s wife, an Italian professor of medicine in the University of Ferrara, was diagnosed with this disease, he was determined to find a cure. In 1995, Dr Zamboni discovered a breakthrough that can change the lives of all MS patients drastically.
What was once seen as a potentially debilitating neurological disease and an autoimmune condition was proven to be a vascular disease.
Since 1995 no one has believed in Dr Zamboni’s research. But thanks to the strong faith of our skilled doctors, here in our own country, a clinical trial had begun little over a month ago in Mubarak AlKabeer Hospital.
Dr Tariq Sinan, Dr Abdulaziz AlMuzaini and Dr Hussain Saffar have successfully conducted their clinical trial on 12 MS patients. All 12 cases have witnessed miraculous results. Patients were able to move again and have full function of their limbs. Limbs which have been immobile for years.
The entire procedure takes no more than 15 minutes. 15 minutes that can change thousands of people’s lives and end their suffering. The procedure is pretty simple. They begin by preforming a doppler, a sonar investigation, and an MRI of the veins, to see if there is a narrowing in the neck veins, then go on to dilating the veins to relive pressure. The patient is cured instantly on the table once the dilation is complete.
Patients who have not been able to walk due to loosing sense in their legs are now able to wiggle their toes and weep at the sight. Patients who have not been able to feed themselves because of lost sensory in their arms are now eating happily and independently.
Dr Zamboni has come up with a miraculous cure that no one had considered, and Dr Sinan, Dr Almuzaini and Dr Saffar have begun to spread the cure here in Kuwait.
So.. where’s the problem, right?
If a cure has been found, a clinical trial has been conducted with successful results.. then where’s the problem?
That’s what everyone is asking the Health Minister of Kuwait after he ordered the clinical trial to be shut down.
Why cut off the only hope all these young patients had? The excuse so far is that the trial is still considered in its research stages and the minister has deemed it “risky”. Where the sense in that is, I don’t know!
I mean, the doctors conducting the trial are extremely capable and have taken out all the necessary research! Other than the fact that all 12 cases have gone through successfully, the trial is ethically permitted since all patients sign a form of responsibility in entering the trial, after the risks have been explained to them fully!
So, where’s the problem?!
Everyone’s still waiting for an answer. Why ban a treatment which thousands of Kuwaitis and residents in Kuwait need so desperately? People are suffering. Young people. Their lives have been halted; they can’t walk, speak, remember the people around them, feed or dress themselves.. they can’t recognize their own children, get married, work, or lead independent lives.. and all that can stop. All that can be cured. For 12 lucky people, all that has already been cured.
We are asking the minister of health to give the doctors back their ability to heal. Give the people their ability to speak, walk and remember. .. Give back these unfortunate people the chance to live. To live a normal healthy life where they can build themselves and their lives anew. This clinical trial is the only shimmer of light they’ve got to hope on for a cure. So give them the option to choose it. These patients have nothing left to lose.. and they are willing to bet on any prayer they may come across. Give these patients the chance to choose for themselves whether it’s a risk they’re willing to take.
If your loved one is suffering from MS, or you know someone who is, join Scope TV in their petition to continue with the clinical trial. Contact parliament representatives, anyone who can help you push for treatment, and get the people you love the treatment they need.
Thank you Dr Sinan, Dr AlMuzaini and Dr Saffar for fighting for these patients and hopefully, you will have the opportunity to cure a thosand more than just 12 MS patients here in Kuwait.
Dr Tariq Sinan’s Website: http://www.drsinan.com/en/Default.aspx
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kuwait/Kuwait-CCSVIMS-starting-community-to-MS-Liberation-research-and-treatment/261778096230
Documentary by CTV: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100409/w5_liberation_update_100409/20100410?s_name=W5
