Milwaukee mother denied treatment that could reverse her MS

MILWAUKEE-Lakesha Johnson wants to be a good wife and mother. But her multiple sclerosis keeps getting in the way.

"I have blurred vision. I see four of you now," the 33 year old recently told CBS 58's Michele McCormack in an exclusive interview from her Milwaukee home.

"I also have this blind spot in the middle which is really weird and my right leg goes completely numb. I'm dragging it.I can't feel it at all."

She was diagnosed in 2007. Traditional drugs have failed her. She undergone 22 sessions of chemotherapy with steroids. The symptoms keep coming on.

There was new hope recently when her doctor told her she was an excellent candidate for a stem cell transplant study at Northwestern Hospital which uses an MS patient's own stem cells.

"Their neurological disability reverses." the study's founder Dr. Richard Burt told CBS 58 News during a recent tour of his lab in Chicago.

"Even though they're on no therapy after this treatment for MS," he explained, "they improve neurologically at six months. They're better at one year than six months and the maximum improvement is two years after the procedure with reversal of what had been neurological deficits."

Dr. Burt says hundreds of patients from around the world have come to his lab to take part in his study. The cost about $125,000 dollars.

"Most insurance companies pay." says Dr Burt. "Medicaid which is federal pays as does Medicare in Illinois at the state level. But there are some rare companies who do not."

Lakesha Johnson's health insurance provider is one of the rare exceptions.

Read the rest here:
Milwaukee mother denied treatment that could reverse her MS