“My goal is to get my life back. Get my independence back. Rise, move, heal and feel better. That’s my only focus.” – Ricky

After being diagnosed with MS in 2010, Ricky lost his job, his marriage, much of his independence, and he now relies on a wheelchair to get around. MS has taken so much from Ricky, but with his trademark positivity and determination, he refuses to let it take any more.

Ricky now attends the MS Plus Wellbeing Centre at Lidcombe. Here, under the expert guidance of exercise physiologist, Dylan, and physiotherapist, Dr Phu Hoang, Ricky has begun strengthening his cardio and his breathing to control his MS symptoms.

“I can control my pain through breathing,” says Ricky. “And cardio helps me a lot because it gives me more strength, stability and endurance.”

With hard work and a positive attitude, Ricky is confident that he can get back most of what MS has taken away. But there's something else he needs to achieve his dreams – a cure.

Please donate today to help elevate the MS research and support that helps people like Ricky rise up when MS seeks to bring them down. 

“Donor support allows us to continue down a path of innovation, and fast-track therapies to the clinic that can have an immediate impact on the quality of life outcomes for people with MS.”
– Dr Steven Petratos

Dr Steven Petratos is a Senior Research Fellow at the Regenerative Neuroscience and Development Group at Monash University. His work was the first in the world to identify that a specific protein – known as NgR1 – can drive degeneration in the spinal cord and optic nerve following an MS attack.

Dr Petratos is now leading a three-year project to develop a new therapeutic approach to overcoming these faulty NgR1 signals by genetically modifying a person’s own blood and bone marrow stem cells.

The project aims to demonstrate that a cell-based therapeutic can target diseased areas of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve to facilitate repair – in a far less aggressive treatment than current transplantation methods. 

Research is the key to a future without MS – you can unlock the door. Please donate today to help translate research into life-changing results for people living with MS.