Melinda Bender

As some of you may know, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2007. Though I rarely publicly discuss this disease, I want to share an update on the progression of my condition and the recent clinical prognosis I’ve been given from my medical team. I’ve recently learned of a new therapy that my help me. However, I will need your help to access the therapy.

MS is an autoimmune disease that attacks and destroys the protective coating around the nerves in one’s brain and spinal cord, resulting in severe deterioration of large and fine motor skills causing varying degrees of paralysis. Simple movements become mountainous tasks such as standing up and walking across the room, the inability to grasp a coffee cup, turn a knob on the stove, and becoming more severe creating an inability to swallow, breath, sit up independently (the list goes on) until eventually death due to inability of the body’s immune system to combat typical illnesses, colds, etc.

Those who knew me prior to my diagnosis, recall I enjoyed a very active life, horseback riding, snowmobiling, canoeing, camping, boating, swimming, and traveling. Since 2007, I have worked with many neurological specialists and top MS clinics to explore every possible medication/treatment to slow the course of the disease, with very little success. I am currently in a very progressive stage of the disease and have been told by my medical team there is no longer any treatment available that will help and nothing can slow the rate of the disease. I no longer drive due to the loss of control of both fine and large motor skills. I am able to use a walker for distances less than 10 feet but am confined to an electric wheelchair beyond that.

Throughout this journey I have tried to keep a positive attitude – praying that some new development would occur that could give me my life back. I have constantly researched innovative therapies that might be effective against this disease and found a treatment center, StemGenex, that offers a recently developed stem cell protocol/therapy for MS. Based on my research, I am very hopeful that this procedure might help reverse much of what MS has taken away.

Because this is not an approved medical treatment in the U.S., medical insurance will not assist with the cost of the treatment. Each treatment costs $24,000, and I will need two treatments ($48,000 total) due to the severity of my MS. To help offset such expenses, a fundraising campaign in my honor has been established with Help Hope Live, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising guidance to patients and their families for more than 30 years. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law, are held by Help Hope Live in the Great Lakes Stem Cell Transplant Fund, and are administered by Help Hope Live for transplant-related expenses only. If you would like to make a contribution, please click donate now.

Thank you for your prayers, support, and generosity.

Blessings to you,

Melinda Bender