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MS patient takes up drag racing after drug changes life
Sri Carmichael, Consumer Affairs Reporter7 Jul 2010
A multiple sclerosis sufferer told today how her life was turned around after a London hospital gave her a “miracle” drug.
Kaz Aston, 36, was diagnosed with the neurological condition in 1995, two weeks before her final exams as a student nurse. She said: “I was lucky. I was training to be a nurse at university so there were clued-up people I could turn to for help and advice.”
Despite the shock of the diagnosis, she qualified as a nurse and went on to work for NHS London, but three years ago her condition worsened when she suffered blood poisoning and complications after a rare reaction to an MS chemotherapy treatment.
She was left unable to walk unaided, had problems with her vision and felt nauseous and exhausted all the time.
Her condition only improved about six months later when she started receiving monthly intravenous infusions of Tysabri at Charing Cross Hospital.
Miss Aston, who now lives in Windsor, says she feels “like a new person” and has even taken up drag racing. “I haven't had a relapse or any new lesions developing on my brain… Before starting Tysabri, I wouldn't have dreamed I'd take part in sport again — let alone the fastest motor sport on earth,” she said.
She is taking part in competitive races to raise awareness and money for The MS Trust. So far she has collected more than £2,000 and is training as a “Top Fuel Driver” with the Santa Pod Raceway in Northamptonshire so she can compete in bigger races.
Charing Cross Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, is one of the first centres to introduce Tysabri, which has been shown to halve the progression of the disabling effects of MS and reduce the number of attacks by two thirds. The drug is an antibody that attaches itself to cells in the immune system, preventing them from entering into the brain and spinal cord, where they cause damage in MS patients.
Charing Cross Hospital has recently refurbished its neuro-infusion suite to accommodate up to 16 patients a day. For more details on Miss Aston's fundraising go to www.kazaston.com
Reader views (1)
Dear Madam,
Please may I indicate that it is both irresponsible to release a story terming "tysabri" as a miracle treatment in any respects, without referencing the many patients who have undergone decease as a side-effect of opting for that treatment.
The chemical manufacturers, Elan Corp., Ireland, and Biogen Idec, USA, are clear about the risks of side-effects and death associated with the treatment.
While I do not dispute that patients may experience a life-altering moment while on the treatment in the first three-to-four years, as a journalist, it is simply not objective to absent all mentioning of the PML statistics (1/1000>1/800, 3 years+ unknown). As printed in the information leaflet that accompanies the medicines.
Otherwise, it does appear rather like a press-circular, seemingly adopted from one or another of the commercial PR corporations that are frequently contracted by all chemicals corporations as a standard device in international marketing of commercial produce, including medicines.
Those statistics aforementioned refer to PML fatalities as a result of PML, itself a 'known-odds risk' of this infused treatment natalizumab, marketed as Tysabri. Those are listed on the German website:
Chefarztfraulicher Beobachter: Journal für Asymmetrische Polemik.
Sincerely,
Noel McCullagh MA PwMS
Dutch Union of Journalists NVJ / IFJ
- Noel McCullagh NVJ, Stad Amsterdam, Koninkrijk der Nederlanden., 07/07/2010 15:29
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