Pharmac today announces the first round of changes to medicines funding following its $191 million pharmaceutical budget increase over the next two years.
Taupō s Katy Glenie plans to master mountains despite multiple sclerosis
5 May, 2021 04:55 PM
8 minutes to read
As part of her training for The Minarets climb, Katy tramped the Routeburn Track in Fiordland earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
As part of her training for The Minarets climb, Katy tramped the Routeburn Track in Fiordland earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
Taupo & Turangi Weekender
It was the end of life as I know it , says Katy Glenie, when she recounts that terrible neurologist s appointment in 2019. For an active, outdoorsy 41-year-old with a 2-year-old daughter, Rosie, the words were her worst fears realised.
For weeks the Taupō woman had had pins and needles that started in her hands, along with a lack of sensation. It started in one finger and moved up her hands and arms then began in her feet and moved up the back of her legs.
To avoid becoming permanently disabled, Anne Besley had stem cell treatment for her multiple sclerosis in India. Before Besley had her treatment, she had to leave her job at Auckland s Middlemore Hospital because she was dropping things, having memory issues, and was in constant pain. She said hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), which is used in New Zealand for some forms of cancer, but not available for MS, saved her life. Besley went to New Delhi, India, for the treatment, which came at a cost of $42,000. It involves harvesting stem cells from the bone marrow, followed by chemotherapy to shut down the faulty immune system. Stem cells are then put back in the body to grow a new, healthy immune system.