friends and family of a West Devon man have launched a campaign to raise funds to send him to Holland for pioneering stem cell treatment. Paul Vanstone, of North Tawton, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 16 years ago ? MS is a condition of the central nervous system and Paul?s symptoms require him to get about with the aid of a wheelchair. Paul, 43, says he has decided to opt for stem cell treatment because it offers the hope he may be able to do some of the everyday things many of us take for granted. He said: ?I want to be able to go for a walk with my children ? my daughter is 19 and my son is 15 ? then hopefully go back to work.? Paul previously worked on building sites, as a lorry driver and a taxi driver, but his illness had eventually forced him to stop working. The stem cell treatment available at a private clinic in Rotterdam, Holland costs £13,000. Paul said he had experienced a number of disappointments with previous treatments, but had heard of other MS sufferers who had had good results with this new form of treatment. The operation, unavailable in the UK, involves taking healthy cells and injecting them into the patient?s spine. The treatment is so far clinically unproven but some MS sufferers claim to have had good results. Paul grew up in Okehampton and went to school in the town, but has been living in North Tawton for the last seven years. His illness was first diagnosed on January 28, 1990 and since then his condition has gradually deteriorated. Paul said one particularly traumatic experience was receiving steroid treatment, which caused severe memory loss. He said: ?MS is a swine. My family came to see me in hospital and I didn?t know who they were. I said to the bloke in the bed next to me ?Looks like you?ve got some more visitors? and he said ?They?ve come to see you?.? Paul said it took some time to regain his memory, when he came out of hospital. ?I was walking through the arcade in Okehampton, and people were coming up and saying ?Good to see you, Paul?, and I would just say ?All right mate? because I couldn?t remember anyone?s name.? Paul had been a very active person before the illness restricted his mobility. Now one of his passions is drawing and sketching, which he finds ?quite therapeutic?. Paul said he had always though of himself as a ?happy go lucky kind of bloke? and this had helped him to cope with the effects of the illness. ?What is the point of being grumpy, if you keep smiling, everybody smiles with you.? Paul?s sister, Kim Laurella has now launched the ?Get Me Two My Feet? appeal which she hopes will raise the £13,000 it costs for treatment at the private clinic in Rotterdam. Kim says she hopes the fact her brother is well known in Okehampton and North Tawton will mean the appeal is well supported. The fundraising is being launched with an event at the Prewley Moor Arms at Sourton Down, on Saturday, March 4 followed by another event at Okehampton Rugby Club on Friday, March 10. Activities at the Prewley Moor Arms will include a disco, fun games, a pledge auction and a name the bear competition , and Paul?s friend Tim Drew has volunteered to have a full body waxing. The rugby club event will feature live music from Tania and Pedro and five more brave souls have agreed to have their legs waxed: Kurk Groves, Colin Hurford, Bill Butler, Michael Dyson and Bryn Jones. Tickets for the rugby club event, £4, are available from Donald?s, Little Red Rooster, the Dovecote and the Okehampton Times office. Kim said many more events were planned around the area in the coming months to attempt quickly to reach the £13,000 total needed for the treatment.
