Dana’s dream to dance becoming reality one baby step at a time
Fatigue is decreasing and muscles are strengthening after Liberation treatment
DEBRA DOWNEY, SENIOR EDITOR
Published on Nov 24, 2010
Step by baby step, Dana Szwec’s dream to dance is inching toward reality.
Dana, who grew up in her mother Marilyn’s dance studio, has been confined to a wheelchair for the past five years. She suffers from primary progressive MS, and until earlier this year, there was little hope Dana would ever stand, let alone dance.
But after media reports circulated about the success of a medical procedure called the Liberation treatment, Dana decided she, too, would undergo the surgery.
Since it is not available in Canada, she underwent the 1 1/2-hour surgeryin Albany, N.Y., on Sept. 28.
“I feel great,” Dana said last week. “My mind’s much clearer and I’m much more awake. I feel like I have more energy, which is fantastic, and I don’t have that fatigue anymore.”
Before the treatment, Dana was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the active schedule she sets for herself. Despite her challenges, Dana participates in Mac Wheelers, a twice-weekly exercise rehabilitation program for adults with a spinal cord injury, and yoga at the MS Society in Hamilton.
Just prior to the treatment this summer, Dana’s fatigue had become almost insurmountable. The 37-year-old would usually sleep nine hours a night, then be so tired by mid-afternoon she would nap for another couple of hours.
Eight weeks after the procedure, Dana’s lucky to get an afternoon siesta at all. Along with yoga and Mac Wheelers, she attends physiotherapy twice a week.
“In the morning when I wake up, I feel awake, I don’t feel I just want to sleep the day away,” she said. “I’m going five days a week. My fatigue is decreasing and my energy level is increasing.”
And Dana’s dream to dance once again seems possible. She can raise her leg a good six inches into the air, has some lateral movement and can stand with limited assistance.
“I’m very hopeful. I’m not walking yet or taking steps, but everything is baby steps. Everything takes time,” she said.
Dana and her mom say they have received “wonderful” support from the community that has helped pay the $10,000 U.S. cost of the Liberation treatment.
“We have had a tremendous amount of support, from Dundas, Stoney Creek, everywhere...” said Marilyn. “People have put money into the account (set up to help the Szwec family) that we don’t even know. It’s just been fantastic, and we want to thank everyone.”
As she inches toward recovery, Dana has also joined the chorus of MS sufferers urging the federal government to approve and fund the Liberation treatment in Canada.
“I’ve seen benefits from it. I don’t think it’s the placebo effect,” said Dana. “I know our government is very conservative and has to run trials and be absolutely certain, but thousands and thousands of people are leaving the country to have it done, and all I’ve heard are good stories.”
Developed by Italian neurologist Dr. Paolo Zamboni, the Liberation treatment involves a technique used to widen narrowed or obstructed blood vessels, a condition known as CCSVI or Chronic Cerebralspinal Venous Insufficiency.
In Dana’s case, doctors cleared her left jugular vein and two other areas of the azygos vein in her chest. Dana did not have stents inserted into her blood vessels, a process that is now reportedly causing problems for patients who underwent the treatment.
For the next year, Dana will travel to Barrie every three months for checkups.
With the Liberation treatment, her dreams once again seem attainable. Along with dancing, Dana hopes one day to stand at the top of the Dundas peak, the wind whispering through towering maple trees, a butterfly’s gentle wings brushing her ankles and her lungs filling with cool, refreshing air.
“If I could walk again, that’s what I’d do. I really miss the trails around Dundas,” she said. “I loved to get out and go hiking, up to the peak, for the fresh air, exercise and just being outside.”
