Chantelle Fox hopes radical surgery in Russia will slow her multiple sclerosis
A MELBOURNE mum hopes radical surgery in Russia will stop the frighteningly fast memory loss that means she may soon be unable to recognise her young daughters.
Inner South
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DESPERATE mother of two Chantelle Fox hopes radical surgery in Russia will stop the frighteningly fast memory loss that means she may soon be unable to recognise her little girls.
The multiple sclerosis sufferer, who has 79 lesions on her brain, lives with the terrible knowledge that within four years, she might not know her young daughters.
“I have two beautiful kids and I might not remember them in four years time if I don’t go to Russia,” Mrs Fox said.
She has pinned her hopes on a stem cell treatment deemed risky by MS Australia and in need of more evidence of its effectiveness by MS Research Australia.
The 41-year-old Bentleigh mother of Lilly, 5, and Edie, 3, was diagnosed with MS last year. Her condition has rapidly worsened.
With so many brain lesions and her short-term memory fading, she has opted for haematopoietic stem cell transplant.
“I have to fight for my kids,” Mrs Fox said. “I want to help them study, to see them married, to be a grandparent.”
MS is a condition of the central nervous system, interfering with nerve impulses in the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.
Autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant is a combination of chemotherapy treatment and a reinfusion of blood stem cells to help rebuild the immune system.
The transplant is only available in Australia through observational clinical trials.
However, Mrs Fox said that waiting a long time for a rare chance to be offered the procedure in a clinical trial in Australia was not an option.
She will travel to Moscow and undergo surgery on June 30.
Transport and treatment will cost about $170,000.
Mrs Fox’s sister Maxine Parker has launched a fundraising page and will hold “A Day for Chantelle” community event at The Bentleigh Club on Sunday, May 28, at noon.
Visit gofundme.com/Medical-fund-Chantelle or facebook.com/medicalfundschantelle to help out.
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