Wendy Johnston was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in January of last year, and is hoping to raise €60,000 so she can access treatment to halt her symptoms.
The mum-of-two wants to go to Clinica Ruiz in Puebla, near Mexico City where doctors will perform a Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) which involves harvesting bone marrow stem cells before reintroducing them back to the body after chemotherapy treatment.
Wendy’s type of MS can lead to blindness and paralysis and treatment is not available here in Ireland.
"It's not something I've entered into lightly and given the option of doing nothing. I want my two children to know that I've done everything I can," she said of the treatment.
Writing on her fundraising page, the mum of two girls said the "most worrying part about this is not the physical impact but becoming a burden on my two children and my family".
"I have been given a date for Clinica Ruiz in Mexico for 2nd of January 2017 if I can raise the funds needed . While I am very grateful to be given this opportunity, I'm faced with the fact it is a very costly procedure and one I can't afford, which is why I have set up a fundraising campaign in the hope I can raise the necessary funds. Any help with this at all would be greatly appreciated."
Thanks to family and friends who have run mini-marathons and organised pub quizzes and to generous strangers who have donated to Wendy’s GoFundMe page, an incredible €30,000 has been raised.
If you are in the position to help Wendy, click here.
