The past couple of months have been very busy for WAMS, hence the lack of blog post from me. However, we recently had a wonderful experience that I want to share.
WAMS was invited to attend a conference organized by the National CCSVI Society http://www.nationalccsvisociety.org/ and very appropriately called ”New Discoveries, New Beginnings.” The intention of the conference was to provide a platform for leading Canadian researchers and physicians to present medical research and patient education on how CCSVI is emerging as a new vascular disorder linked to many poorly understood diseases, such as MS. Second and equally as important, it was a networking event for all those working in the CCSVI community.
The first part of the conference was a roundtable event for groups active in the CCSVI Community. I attended the event with our first recipient, Michele Mateus. We were surrounded by people, like ourselves, who have been committing hours and working hard to support MS patients and/or advocate the benefits of CCSVI. Other attendees included, Siobhan MacQueen from CCSVI Alberta, Sandra Birrell from the National CCSVI Society and Debra Golden from CCSVI Grand Prarie (Just to name a few). It was very inspiring to hear the efforts made and the successes these groups have had. Through the discussion, we realized we would be more effective if we worked together and consistently shared information. To facilitate this, we formed a collective, which will regularly meet via conference calls and through social networks.
Also, at the roundtable event, we were fortunate to make a special connection with Linda Molyneux from the CCSVI Coalition. Her group focuses on achieving the recognition of CCSVI as a treatable medical condition, not solely as it relates to MS. WAMS has since become a Partner in this coalition as we support their goals. Linda has already shown that mutual support by meeting our next recipient, Jayne Thomas, as we were unable to travel to Ontario to meet her ourselves. After their meeting, we committed to helping Jayne fund her CCSVI treatment (to be discussed in the next blog post. Promise! J) We wholeheartedly thank Linda for her devotion to the cause and for her support.
We made another great connection at the conference with the honourable Dr. Kirsty Duncan<http://kirstyduncan.liberal.ca . She is the Liberal MP for Etobicoke North and she’s been courageously advocating for MS patients at the Parliament in Ottawa. Yet another inspiring person working tirelessly for our cause. If schedules allow we’re hoping for Kirsty to attend our next event, so all our supporters will have the pleasure of meeting her and hearing about the bill she has recently tabled in parliament to establish a National Strategy for Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency. http://kirstyduncan.liberal.ca/release/dr-kirsty-duncan-tables-bill-to-establish-a-national-strategy-for-chronic-cerebrospinal-venous-insufficiency-ccsvi/
All in all the conference was a success and we left feeling part of the community that is working to improve the life of MS patients. Our sincere thanks to the National CCSVI Society http://www.nationalccsvisociety.org/ for organizing the event.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and for supporting our foundation. As always, please feel free to contact the Foundation should you have any questions, we continue to be here for you guys and will always help in any way we can.
As I mentioned, Michele Mateus also attended the CCSVI conference and she’ll be sharing her experiences in the blog as well. Thanks to Michele for again taking the time to share her experiences with our supporters!
