TRURO - About a week ago, Paddi Lemmon put on a pair of earrings all by herself for the first time in years.
And yesterday, she crossed another milestone.
"Today is my first day without my cane," she said, a big smile breaking across her face. "I was excited, proud, happy. It was a great feeling."
The independence felt great. But, initially, there was also fear, after leaving the cane in the car as she made her way into work at the Nova Scotia Community College.
"I'm very nervous walking," the East Mountain resident said. "I've fallen so many times in the past few years that I was very, very nervous."
Lemon was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1995 and has slowly seen her mobility decrease as the disease advanced to secondary progressive, for which there is no known cure.
Last month, however, she travelled to Germany to undergo a new and still somewhat controversial treatment method known as the Liberation procedure. The procedure is not billed as a cure and, as yet, is not recognized in North America.
And while some critics feel those who benefit do so simply because of what is known as the placebo effect, you will not convince Lemmon of such in her case.
"I know what a placebo effect is," she said. "I have had enough drug trials done to know what that means. But it definitely isn't a placebo effect."
One of her biggest setbacks prior to having the procedure was the growing amount of fatigue she felt. Muscle tightness in her left arm and fingers also greatly reduced mobility there and her left leg had become so weak that her cane became a sort of security blanket.
The trip to Germany cost about $10,000 and the procedure itself took about 40 minutes after her German doctor determined through an ultrasound and an MRI that she could likely benefit from the treatment.
Initially, she felt disappointed because she did not notice any immediate improvements, such as those shown on the YouTube clips she had seen prior to leaving for Germany.
And then, the improvements started to come.
"One of the first things I noticed was my fatigue, the level of my fatigue was so much better ... it was almost worth it just for that," she said.
Lemmon continues to see improvements and says she would do it all again in "a heartbeat."
"To me these small things were becoming huge. Like, I haven't put a pair of earrings on by myself in probably four years."
But she also has a word of caution for others considering undertaking the expense, time and effort to have the procedure.
"Have realistic expectations of what's going to happen, because all you're hearing about is the miraculous stories about it ... and there are people out there who have had this done and it hasn't worked or the changes are very minimal," she said.
"Do your research. Find other people that have had it done. Find out what the doctor's credentials are."
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