Help Katrina with her MS Treatment

This may come as a shock to many of you.  I mean really, I hide it so well. You’d have to basically be one of my nearest and dearest to even have had a clue.  Shit, you probably thought that time you saw me in a wheelchair, I had tore my Achilles in a crazy athletic training accident. But here’s the thing, I am throwing it out there for the world to see…owning it, some would say; My name is Katrina Archibald and I have Multiple Sclerosis. I have had Multiple Sclerosis since I was 24. Probably longer than that. I was most likely born that way. To coin a Beyonce phrase, I woke up like this…at least for the last 18 years.

I suppose I never wore the MS badge with honor, not wanting to be defined by a disease. But at this point in my life, it has become painfully, physically, and emotionally impossible NOT to be defined by this damned disease. 

The progression of my disease was amplified when on June 18th, 2013, my son Holden and I unexpectedly lost our father/life partner, Ryan. Stress, officially a bad thing for your health – unless you’re running for your life from a zombie - is as bad for an auto-immune disease such as MS as, well, being bitten by said zombie. So, while I have been doing my best dealing with grief and parenting a tweenage son, I have been progressing in my disease (progressing is usually a positive term – but not here).

Obligatory Disease Description:
Multiple Sclerosis is an auto-immune disease affecting the myelin sheath. The immune system attacks itself, presenting in a number of symptoms. Most obvious is gait, but can be as benign as tingling in your fingers to the horribly embarrassing incontinence (anyone who knows me is not surprised by this bit of info), to the painful spasms and cramps, to the inability to think clearly. Blindness, fatigue, depression, inability to swallow, are some of the symptoms MSers find themselves battling.  Luckily, my eyesight is still intact and the people who love me look the other way when I piss myself or speak of the same old gobbly-gook due to my MS brain fog.  Unfortunately though in the last 28 months, I have lost much of my abilities. Using a walker is a pipe dream. I am so very wheelchair bound I had to install ramps in order to get to my damn car (my damn car is 5 damn feet from the damn door). At this point, if I make it to Holden’s graduation at all, I will most likely be in a reclining wheelchair.

What was that? Why don’t I take any number of those drugs that will no doubt fix me? I’ve tried naturopathy, homeopathy, allopathy (Western Medicine). While some has helped, the last gem was a 60k a year pill with icky side effects that, three months after I started taking it was found to do a whole lot of nada. But overall, the shitty ass nature of this disease is winning. There are four types of MS and, hold your applause, I have graduated from Relapsing Remitting to Progressive (meaning the Relapsing part stays but the Remitting is a goner. Currently there are no approved treatments for Progressive MS.  No. Approved. Treatments.

 Start the drum roll…

However I had heard of this treatment overseas.  Now stay with me, it is the blood of a unicorn, boiled with two eyelashes of a lemur then injected directly into your spine, after it’s blessed by Pope Francis Cousin’s housekeeper’s son.  The cost is a humble 630k and only half of the original 10 patients died…so it’s kind of a no brainer.

 I jest. 

 Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant. In layman terms, it’s an immune system reboot, only using your own stem cells. The same drugs and procedures used for a Bone Marrow Transplant are used for HSCT.  

 I had originally heard about the procedure in the spring of 2013. Numerous hospitals around the world were performing it, and I was in touch with a hospital in India that offered HSCT for around $75,000. A deal in comparison to many others. Ryan and I decided to sell the house and use the residuals for the treatment. Then shithead had to go and die on me. And there was no way I was leaving my 8 year old for 3 months. HSCT was put on the backburner and my health took a nose dive.

 The thing is, there is no drug or treatment that can promise me anything. But after much, much, much research, a couple years of grieving, and a couple more stupid worthless MS drugs, I have decided HSCT is my best option. While HSCT can’t promise to cure me, the odds I won’t get worse are actually pretty good…like 69%. There’s even a chance I could improve! Improve like I’d start dancing or wearing high heels (damn, I loved wearing high heels…I was like 6ft4in!), no. But improvements I can hope for, because anecdotatolly speaking, across the board, patients are experiencing improvements, are with my bladder and heat tolerance. Yay! Those two things would DRAMATICALLY improve my quality of life. (Holden’s too – can’t even imagine how embarrassing it must be to have your mom pee her pants all the time.)

 So what’s the down side…well there are a couple. The first being the cost, $60,000. Second, there is slight danger as I will be receiving a round of chemo and will subsequently be neutrapenic for a year. Thirdly, and the one I strangely care the most about, I’ll lose my hair. I also have to leave my guy for four weeks.

Back to the pro side…as it (pardon the pun) stands, I am in a spiral. Holden takes plenty care of me and himself. The thought of my poor kid doing more than he already does, just breaks my heart.  But, if my arms go, not only will I have to kiss my Michele Obama-esce arms goodbye, I won’t be able to transfer from my wheelchair to anywhere (try to imagine how scary that might be for an 11yr old) and HSCT holds a promise that the progression of the disease will stop...which brings me to the exorbitant cost that is circling your mind right now. I get it. This treatment is crazy expensive. But I urge you to do just a little research. This is the real thing. Efficacy is proven. The $60,000 is nothing in comparison to the hundreds of thousands I (or tax payers) would spend over the next thirty years in home-care.

 Today I received an email from Clinica Ruiz in Puebla, Mexico. If I am able to get my ducks in a row, they will accept me for treatment on June 20th.

You might have noticed a discrepency between the cost of the treatment and my ultimate monetary goal. Primarily the extra monies would cover flights and the required caregivers I will be needing during my month in Mexico. Currently, I am living in the most expensive area on the planet (what happened to my hometown, Redwood City, CA?) and barley surviving on my SSDI stipend (which I am entirely grateful for).

 And now, here I am, humbly asking for your help. Asking for your help to stop this cruel disease. Asking for your help to become a better parent, daughter, sister, and friend. Asking for a miracle. 

 Thank you for taking the time to read this plea…