Bio: Edmonton-area resident Brenda Requier, in her early 50s, has multiple sclerosis. She travelled to Poland in June to undergo vein-opening procedure based on the unproven theory that MS is linked to chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI). She says there's been a great improvement in her MS symptoms following the operation. She shared her experience with CBCNews.ca Your Voice and discussed why she thinks the treatment should be available in Canada.

My story: I found out about 16 years ago [I had MS], but I've had symptoms since I was a teenager. I had extreme fatigue, and I was starting to have more and more mobility issues over the years. Over the last few months, before I went for treatment, I had gone deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other. My vision was continuing to get worse, there was a lot of neuropathic pain, and there's something called the "MS hug" -- it's a tight banding around the ribs that sometimes makes it almost impossible to sit up for very long. There's such a myriad of symptoms that it's hard to pinpoint. I kept a diary of my symptoms before and after [the operation], partially so I could look back and see any improvements I'd made. I was having a lot of memory issues. I couldn't even make up my mind what I wanted to wear in the morning.

Now, I'm having no problem. I just get up and I make plans for travel and do things I need to do. I'm now babysitting my one, four, and six-year-old grandsons most days until two in the afternoon. I never would have been able to do that a year ago, never. It was really difficult to have company or to plan to go out, because I'd never know, moment-to- moment, how I'd be feeling or how long I'd last. I'd never last that long -- even having a conversation took a lot of effort. Now I can have company, I can go out.

We have a thing close to our neighborhood called Kites Over Callingwood, and I actually flew a kite with my grandson when I came back from Poland. I've done things I haven't done for a long time. I actually even let go of my handicap parking placard when it expired in August -- I didn't feel in good conscience I could keep it right now.

It's sometimes difficult for what we call the "normal people" to empathize and understand. When we say "fatigue" it's not the same thing as "tired" -- fatigue is all- encompassing, it's head-swimming .... I used to have such severe vertigo that if I rolled over in bed, it was like the earth tipped over on its axis. I don't get that anymore. There are still little ups and downs, little backflips when you're overstressed and overtired, and I didn't have the instant results that some people did ... but I've been grateful for every [improvement].

It's just heartbreaking to me that people have had to go into debt and fundraise to get help and when you feel that your quality of life is so little. Some people are looking at going into hospice and passing away. Why are they denied here? They are fundraising and going overseas and then to come home and not have health-care and followup?

This is not a new procedure, this is something's been done for a while. The only thing that's new is that there's a connection between MS and CCSVI. Right now, what we're saying as a group is that all we know is that we have symptoms of CCSVI and [the procedure] is helping. They can figure the [scientific] connection out later -- we just want to have some relief and quality of life, and some people actually want life.

Look at the story of Barb Farrell, who went to the Ontario government to beg on compassionate grounds for treatment -- her husband begged on her behalf -- and she was denied. A guardian angel swept in and paid to have her [flown] to New York for treatment. She was going into hospice care on a feeding tube and breathing-assist, and now she's home with her family. In this country, have compassion and common sense just gone away? We patch drunk drivers back together. I would never leave somebody freezing to death on the side of the road. You don't turn your back on your people. There has to be compassion.

As for those few who say Canada needs to take responsibility for their health-care, and it's our fault, and taxpayers this and that -- we're taxpayers too. So are our families and so are our friends, and we've had overwhelming support from people we've talked to. I think the government needs to intervene federally, so that it stops going from the federal saying it's a provincial issue and the provincial saying it's College of Physicians and Surgeons issue, and around and around.

None of us is saying that this a cure for MS. We're all saying it's a treatment for symptoms. We really would like almost to have MS out of the equation for the time being .... We're being discriminated against for treatment, because we have the label MS. If I had a jugular vein clot from dialysis or from a motorcycle accident or whatever, I would get treatment. But because I'm labeled as MS, I'm untouchable, and that's discrimination."

Related:

YOUR INTERVIEW: A biomedical ethicist discusses some of the ethical issues surrounding this procedure.

P.O.V.: Should your province fund these MS trials? Take our survey.