A VERY brave Trudy Swain and her supportive husband Tim will board a plane bound for Russia on Saturday evening, on a journey they hope will be life-changing.
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The Orange mother of four will undergo a 25-day program of stem cell therapy from June 1 at the National Pirogov Medical Surgical Centre in Moscow, in an effort to stop multiple sclerosis (MS) from destroying her central nervous system.
Orange’s community raised $90,000 over the past few months through fundraising events to help Mrs Swain pay for the treatment, which is banned in Australia due to its 1 per cent mortality rate and is considered high risk by medical professionals.
Trudy Tackles MS fundraising committee chair Malcolm McDonald said there were a lot of mixed feelings amongst the Swain family as Mr and Mrs Swain prepared to leave.
”There’s excitement of the prospect of Trudy stopping the MS in its tracks with this life-changing procedure,” he said.
“The kids are more concerned because they will wave goodbye to mum and then won’t see her until she returns, whereas Tim will be by her side each day, and will be providing the rest of us with updates.”
Mr McDonald said the Swains and the fundraising committee had been overwhelmed by the eagerness of the Orange community to lend a hand.
“We want to thank the community of Orange and district for what they’ve enabled Trudy to do,” he said.
“The committee and committee members’ circles of friends have worked tirelessly to raise the target of $90,000.”