Israeli surgery hope for Jerilderie mum
A WOMAN in country NSW will travel to Israel for radical new surgery that she hopes will reverse the effects of multiple sclerosis.
TALIA JACOBS
A WOMAN in country NSW will travel to Israel for radical new surgery that she hopes will reverse the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS). When Jerilderie mum Kat Rochford was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease after the birth of her first child nearly 10 years ago, she was told she would be wheelchair-bound in the near future.
Today, while she can still walk, the disease is taking its toll.
Canadian-born Rochford is travelling to Israel to undergo radical new surgery.
“I heard about the treatment through my friend in Canada, Louise Zylstra, a pro-golfer, who also suffers from the disease and who was one of the first 35 people in the world to travel to Israel to receive the treatment,” Rochford told The AJN.
“Since having the treatment, Louise’s progress has been amazing.”
Although still in its early stages, Rochford’s friend has been part of what appears to be the world’s first successful adult stem-cell therapy at Israel’s Weizman Centre.
The positive response that Zylstra has had to the treatment has inspired 36-year-old Rochford to try her luck.
“I need to be proactive because I can see myself getting worse every year,” she said.
Rochford, a pilates and fitness instructor, has a strain of the disease known as relapsing-remitting MS, which causes clearly defined attacks of worsening neurological function.
“After my daughter was born I had an attack where I lost my vision in my left eye, had severe fatigue and then depression,” Rochford said.
“Right now I find it hard to walk, I get tired all the time, am numb from the neck down and my right arm doesn’t work so well.
With the life-saving treatment costing more than $40,000, Rochford and her family have resorted to fundraising for the treatment.
“There was a fundraiser held in our town which raised $17,000,” she said. “I’m amazed at our community.
“We are a farming community that has been experiencing really bad drought for the last eight to 10 years, and people are strapped for cash, so to raise that much in a town of 800 is amazing.”
Rochford, whose mother was Jewish, says she is touched by the support from the Sydney Jewish community, with donations and help offered after her arrival in Israel.
Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive officer Vic Alhadeff said: “We picked up Kat’s story from a small article in a regional paper and were so amazed by it that on behalf of the Jewish Board of Deputies, we made a donation as a gesture of goodwill to help her with some of the medical expenses.
“We hope that Kat will have a vastly improved quality of life, and that there will be awareness in both her community and others that hear of her story, that Israel is a world leader in the sciences and humanitarian medical breakthroughs,” he said.
Rochford’s treatment will take place over eight weeks.
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