This is not Star Wars, But it is A New Hope

Warning: The Personal Pronoun I will be used.

Ever since I found out a close friend of mine had Multiple
Sclerosis I have been keeping my eye on it. Before that I
was pretty ignorant to the fact that it existed, much like
many other people in this world. I was always too afraid to
ask her exactly what that was; because well how do you
respond to that when someone says they have it. I would slap
myself if I even spit out the generic, “Gee that is too bad”.


Thank god for the Internet though,

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To me this picture is confusing but from what I understand
that white spot is bad.

So according to Wikipedia this is a disease that attacks the
brain and spin and causes many life hindering problems.
There is “no cure”. I have hope there will be, there has to
be after all the work they are doing with stem cell research
and how they are able to destroy diseases like polio and
small pox’s.

But, if you have MS you can live fully productive lives. What
sparked me to write this was this article: Article

I also found out that this disease was 3 times more likely to
affect women, which is why a cure for MS really needs to be
discovered. Women are special treasures to the world; they
are the ones that give life, where men take that life away. I
often want to take the pain and the emotional turmoil away
from my close friend. After all we are friends. There is no
pain I would no endure for any of my friends that I hold
dearly.


So how close are they at even understanding how to find out what causes MS? After all I read on Wikipedia that no one knew the how, and that they only knew they what happens.

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A recently published article said they have found a single molecule that is directly linked to MS. What exactly does this mean? I am not an expert in MS but the protein IL-6 seems to be a key issue in here.

Most of the article is very scientific but what stands out more is the hope in this paragraph.

“IL-6 is a chemical messenger that cells of the immune system use to communicate with one another. One of the cell types injured by high levels of IL-6 includes oligodendrocytes, which help produce the protective myelin sheath coating around nerve cells. The findings offer one possible mechanism responsible for demyelinating disorders, such as TM and MS, and may aid in the development of effective therapies against these disorders, the researchers say.”

If there is a chance to find possible therapies then I am ecstatic. They are not the only ones looking for answers. I plan to keep my eye watching the headlines across the world. In fact I get Google alerts sent to me on a regular basis keeping me informed. I am just sad that I have not always been so avid in wanting a cure. I wish the scientists good luck.

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