Yukoner hopes to be part of MS therapy trials

Some people in Yukon are closely watching a set of experimental trials for multiple sclerosis sufferers in Albany, New York.

The first Canadian to take part in the controversial liberation therapy treatment is recovering from surgery. About half a dozen Yukoners with MS will take part in the study over the next year.

Whitehorse resident Al Macklon has signed up for the trials. Hes undergoing a screening process to determine if hell be chosen.

I'm just really participating to get some answers to all of this because it's a huge financial toll for people with MS, Macklon said.

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada says MS is unpredictable, affecting vision, hearing, memory, balance and mobility.

The trials in Albany will test the effectiveness of the therapy, in which tiny balloons are surgically inserted to open up constricted veins. All of the trial participants will undergo surgery, but only about half will get the liberation treatment.

Macklon has been living with MS for five years and dreams of the day that he can live pain-free. He wants to know if the treatment works.

Most of us went into the research part of it just to try and get some answers to it because it's a nagging question that doesn't seem to stop, Macklon said.

The territory is covering the cost for the Yukoners who take part in the MS study in Albany. It would otherwise be too expensive for Macklon.

Doing this thing privately, you're looking at $15,000 for a treatment and we're not even sure if it is a treatment, he said.

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Yukoner hopes to be part of MS therapy trials