Athlone man with Motor Neurone Disease begins stem cell treatment

Local man Seamus Meade recently returned from a 12-day trip to Moscow, where he underwent a course of stem cell treatment for Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

The 60-year-old was diagnosed with MND three years ago this month. A number of charity events have been organised locally to help meet the high cost of his treatment overseas.

Last week, Athlone Rotary Club held a Gala Concert in the Radisson Blu Hotel which raised money for the Seamus Meade Treatment Fund and St Hilda’s Services.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent at a press launch of that concert, Seamus talked about his diagnosis and his decision to seek out stem cell treatment which is not available in Ireland.

A native of Assumption Road, Seamus was the fifth youngest in a family of nine boys and five girls.

His German partner, Regina, operates Shannon Crafts and Coffee Dock in The Strand, Athlone, and Seamus was working there when he first noticed that something was amiss, health-wise, early in 2013.

“I started finding it difficult to lift things, like cups and saucers. I was dropping stuff out of my hands,” he recalled.

“I knew that January there was something wrong. I went to the doctor in July or August, but I had diagnosed myself first. I said to the doctor, it’s not arthritis and it’s not Parkinson’s, it’s Motor Neurone. He didn’t say anything at the time, because I had to go and see the neurologist first, for them to confirm it.”

Seamus’s suspicions were proven correct when Dr John Lynch, Consultant Neurologist at University College Hospital Galway, diagnosed him with MND in September of that year.

When asked how he reacted to his diagnosis, Seamus said: “It was more of a shock to Regina, my partner. It was very lonely coming back on the train that day. I was just sitting there, waiting, thinking how am I going to tell the family? What will I do?

“I knew some people in Athlone who had Motor Neurone, like Paul O’Connor, who used to sell The Big Issue. I knew another guy in Clara who had it. There was Nicky McFadden, of course. I knew Nicky very well. They’ve all passed away now.”

He said he had been diagnosed with “a mild form” of MND. “It’s three years now, and in the last few months I can feel it catching up with me,” he said. Carrying out everyday tasks unaided is becoming more difficult for him.

“I might look alright, but my strength (isn’t there any more). If I sat down on the ground I wouldn’t be able to get up by myself. I’d need to be lifted up.”

There is no cure for MND, but “about two months ago” Seamus got a phonecall from one of his brothers telling him there was an article in the previous day’s Irish Independent about stem cell treatment for MND. He located the article and started doing online research into this kind of treatment.

He was told, during an appointment at Beaumont Hospital, that Government funding is not available for stem cell treatment in Ireland so instead he got in touch with Swiss Medica, which provides the treatment in Moscow and Belgrade.

With the treatment likely to cost around €30,000, a fundraising effort soon got underway. A coffee morning was organised in the Shannon Crafts and Coffee Dock on Friday, July 22. Seamus was away for much of that morning, but was overwhelmed by the reports of how well it went.

“We raised over €5,000 that morning in the coffee shop. It was amazing. I was nearly crying (when I heard about it),” he said.

“That was the start. Then people had other ideas about fundraising. A committee was formed, so I left them to it. Different events have been going on. I have a sister in England, Anne, who started a 'Go Fund Me’ appeal over there. People who don’t even know me are donating to it.”

In addition, local artists offered their work for sale at a fundraising exhibition held in Athlone Towncentre last weekend, among other events.

Seamus said the generosity people have shown is amazing. “I couldn’t believe it. I was stuck for words. Phenomenal is the word to describe it, I suppose.”

Last month, one of his brothers, Francis, accompanied him to Moscow where he began a course of stem cell treatment at a Swiss Medica facility there.

“It all went well. There were two interpreters, so the language was not a problem,” he said. “There were people there with Parkinson’s. There were people from the UK, with MS. I was the only Irish person there.”

He said the treatment involved his own stem cells being taken from his stomach and hip bone, and then being returned to his body intravenously along with umbilical cord stem cells and donor stem cells.

Though he returned home at the end of August, the treatment will be ongoing for the next six months.

He is receiving “two injections a week to rejuvenate stem cells” and he must also follow a healthy eating and exercise regime. He will be providing reports on his progress to the clinic in Moscow each month and will have a better idea of how the treatment is going after two months.

When asked about the outcome for which he is hoping, he replied: “It is not a cure, and I’m not looking for miracles. A better quality of life would be the best way of putting it.

“I am very confident about it and I feel better, the fact that I did something about it myself. I checked it out, took the chance, and went over (to Moscow).”

He said his partner and his family have been “fantastic” and have all been very active in helping with the ongoing fundraising effort.

Looking ahead, he said: “I’ll just have wait and see. It’s a six-month ongoing treatment. I’m still going through it, taking tablets and injections and all of that. I have to keep the head up.

“It’s not that I’m 'hoping for the best’, I just have a good feeling about it, the fact that something guided me in the direction (of this treatment). I don’t know why.

“Something told me to go and do it, and the fact was that we couldn’t do anything here in Ireland,” Seamus concluded.

* Donations to the Seamus Meade Treatment Fund can be made online through his sister Anne's Go Fund Me page here: https://www.gofundme.com/2f2p48ak