Fiddle fun Jocelyn Pettit performs at the Maple Sugar Festival.
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www.nanaimobulletin.com
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015
VOL. 26, NO. 79
John Wyse, a shellfish farmer and father of three from Nanaimo, has not been able to work due to deteriorating health from a rare form of multiple sclerosis. CHRIS BUSH/THE NEWS BULLETIN
New rental housing proposed for Bowen Road property BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM THE NEWS BULLETIN
Hoping for a cure
John Wyse is raising money for experimental stem cell treatment for multiple sclerosis BY CHRIS BUSH THE NEWS BULLETIN
J
ohn Wyse, 40, a Nanaimo father of three, is in a race against the progression of his disease. Wyse was diagnosed in 2010 with primary progressive multiple sclerosis and hopes to receive hematopoietic stem cell transplantation treatment at the Hassadah Medical Centre in Israel. Multiple sclerosis affects the brain and spinal cord by causing inflammation that damages myelin – the protective covering of the nerves – and disrupts
nerve impulses, giving rise to symptoms which can include extreme fatigue, weakness, lack of coordination, impaired sensation, vision and bladder problems, cognitive impairment and mood changes. What causes MS is unknown, but it’s thought to be an autoimmune disorder causing the body’s immune system to attack healthy tissue. Patients suffer repeating cycles of advancing deterioration followed by periods of remission in all forms of MS except for the primary progressive variant of the disease, which
progresses without remission and is the only form of MS for which there are no conventional drugs or treatments available. Research into stem cell transplantation therapy is the latest avenue of hope for successful treatment and a possible cure. Clinics in Germany, Russia, India and Israel currently offer stem cell treatment and clinical trials are also being conducted in Canada and the U.S. . Most clinical trials and some treatment clinics will not accept primary progressive MS patients. Wyse, with his wife and three daughters, are trying
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to raise $158,200 to pay for his treatment in Israel, scheduled for April 2016, but the Hassadah Medical Centre places limits on how far Wyse’s condition can deteriorate before it will not accept him. Wyse, who now walks with a cane and hasn’t been able to work for a year, figures he has little more than a year before he’s no longer a treatment candidate. “Russia is way cheaper. It’s only $40,000, but there’s a four-year waiting list, but I don’t think I have four years to wait,” Wyse said. “I’ll be in a wheelchair.”
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Affordable rental housing for urban aboriginals could take the place of the once controversial supportive housing project billed for Bowen Road. The City of Nanaimo and the non-profit Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre are doing a feasibility study into rental housing for urban aboriginal students and families at 1406 Bowen Rd., a city-owned site previously slated to address Nanaimo’s mentally ill and homeless population. The city put the supportive housing project – one of five under the province’s Housing First strategy – on ice in 2011, after residents expressed concerns over its proximity to an elementary school, increased traffic and the effect on property values during a series of contentious public hearings. Politicians agreed to develop the site as part of the Housing First initiative only if necessary and no plan has been submitted for the property since, B.C. Housing reports. The Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre, and the city’s social planner John Horn, consider the new proposal to be a far cry from the previous supportive housing pitch, with a different tenant population and no need for an ongoing subsidy to make it work. “We will just have to see what folks think about this,” Horn said. “It’s quite a different proposition actually.” Chris Beaton, executive director of the Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre, said the nonprofit organization will target groups, like aboriginal students, who they know are living in overhoused conditions, unlicensed secondary suites or couch surfing because they can’t find affordable, safe housing. The aim is to create a sense of community and support for a variety of tenants.
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