Help Candice Beat MS with HSCT!

Imagine losing your ability to walk, work or even just brush your hair! OR just being pain-free each day, to be able to do the most basic things without help!

This has become the heartbreaking reality for Candice.

Going from someone who lights up every room she enters, who instantly makes friends with her warm, bubbly personality, infectious smile, and loud laugh and do anything for her family and friends, to someone who is losing the ability to undertake the most basic daily tasks at such a rapid rate, that it has even surprised her doctors!

Last year at just 36, Candice was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a debilitating disease that has started to rapidly rob her of her independence and mobility. The pain and the amount of energy - mentally, emotionally and physically - that it takes her to do just even the most basic things: chopping vegetables, ironing, sitting or standing for too long, getting out of bed, brushing her hair and so on, is taking its toll. Each day is an unpredictable struggle and even the simplest of tasks is daunting, let alone the isolation she feels because on some days, it is just too hard and painful to just barely function.

With the rapid progression since her diagnosis and following many hours of research and speaking with other MS sufferers who have been through the process, Candice has made the tough decision to travel alone to Russia in March this year to undergo HSCT (hematopoietic stem cell transplantation) - a treatment with a 90–92% success rate in halting MS in patients like her. This isn’t a quick fix by any means - it’s an intense process involving removing her stem cells, undergoing multiple rounds of chemo, and rebuilding her immune system from scratch over a 30-day period. But it’s her best chance to potentially halt the progression of MS in its tracks and reclaim her life before the disease causes anymore damage and before it is too late - to just give her the chance to live without the constant fear of deterioration!

Why Russia? Because while Australia has been “thinking about it” for 14 years, Russia has been successfully doing this procedure for over 20 years, treating more than 3,000 patients at their world-renowned university hospital. The irony? Australia sends doctors there to learn about the procedure but won’t send patients like Candice, to receive it.

This isn’t an easy decision. It’s grueling, emotionally overwhelming, and financially devastating. The treatment, travel, and recovery costs total a staggering $100,000.

Candice has so much life left to live and in her words, “I haven’t come this far to only come this far!” As her family and friends, we are determined to help give her as much of a long, healthy, pain-free and happy life as one can have living with MS and get her to Russia for this treatment!

With your support, we can give her that chance to live each day pain-free, mobile, independently, healthily and to be able to do the basic things that you and I get to do every day, without spending hours having to ‘work up the energy’ to do just one small thing!

Every donation, big or small, brings her one step closer to a life where MS is not dictating her every move and will give her the strength to keep fighting. Your generous support and contributions - whether it’s $10 or more - will go directly to funding this life-changing treatment and associated costs.

If you can’t donate, sharing Candice’s story is just as powerful. Together, we can make a difference!

Thank you for being part of her journey. Let’s show MS, it doesn’t stand a chance against her!