The first MS patients in Iceland were given the new medicine Tysabri at the National Hospital in Reykjavík yesterday. The medicine is believed to be able to revolutionize treatments for MS patients and reduce seizures by up to 70 percent.
“The disease has had a great impact on my life, especially since I haven’t been able to work since 2001,” farmer and MS sufferer Kristín Thorbjörg Ólafsdóttir told Morgunbladid. “The worst thing about my condition is that I can’t tend to my duties.”
Ólafsdóttir has high hopes for the new medicine. “I hope it can turn the progression of the disease around, which has happened in many cases abroad. It would be fantastic. Everything is a bonus for me.”
Ólafsdóttir was diagnosed with MS in 2002, but by then her health was already suffering from some of its symptoms. “The disease has progressed a great deal since then. I can hardly walk and almost always have to rely on a wheelchair.”
“I have been waiting for this medicine for a long time. It is wonderful that it is finally here,” Ólafsdóttir said. She has to undergo treatment at the National Hospital every four weeks. “I get great service here. The nurses should be paid double.”
