HAVING suffered various health issues since the day he was born, Victor Warrington’s Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis at the age of 48 could have been ‘the last straw’.


Instead though, he has decided to use his personal experience to lobby Northern Ireland’s Health Minister for better MS care in the West and to push for the pioneering treatment he received to be more readily available.


Whilst juggling the roles and responsibilities that come part and parcel with being a Fermanagh and Omagh district councillor, the father of one has spent the last 18 months coming to terms with his MS diagnosis.
And having just completed the second round of his intensive treatment, which he describes as “a doddle compared to the first”, Mr. Warrington says the drug his consultant prescribed, which was only licensed in Northern Ireland last year, has been “revolutionary” in his life.


He recalls his MS relapsing on a number of occasions last Spring but says it hasn’t relapsed since his first round of treatment.
Although acknowledging his ‘miracle drug’ comes at a high price to the health service -- £56,000 for two rounds to be exact -- he insists that, considering other MS treatments are more costly in the long-term, it should be a price our health service is willing to pay.


Mr. Warrington was diagnosed at the end of January last year, but had been suffering the symptoms for quite some time prior.
“My mobility had been really affected,” he recalls, “I had been going about with a crutch.”


But having suffered from Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a bone condition, since the day he was born, doctors were putting his symptoms down to his birth defect.


“When I was diagnosed with MS, I already knew. They were doing tests for it at that stage. I had been reading up on it. And there was no doubt that was what it was.
“I have had a lot of health problems in my life. After I was diagnosed I remember saying to my wife: ‘I must have been a real b*****d in a previous life’!
“But I have never let any of my health issues control my life and I decided I wasn’t going to let MS control it either.”


Due to the long waiting lists to see a neurologist, Mr. Warrington made the decision to go private.
His consultant presented him with three treatment options.


“For me there was no question that ‘Lemtrada’ was the best course of action,” he says.
Lemtrada was only licensed in Northern Ireland in May 2015.
“It is an innovative and progressive form of defence against MS, and more and more consultants are recommending its use due to the positive results it is producing,” says Mr. Warrington.


“In Northern Ireland, Lemtrada is only available at the RVH. And whilst I appreciate that it is available, the provision is only based on the Royal taking in just two patients a week. Most of these patients coming in to receive the treatment are only out-patients, which can be difficult as the treatment is quite severe. When I went in for my first round of treatment, I went in on a crutch and came out in a wheelchair.
“The infusion was for five days and they take your bloods constantly. My recovery was slow -- there was no way I could have been an inpatient during the first treatment.


“For the second round this year, I had to be at the Royal at 7.30am each morning. But it was a doddle compared to the first round.”
From his own experience, Mr. Warrington argues that the second round of treatment could be delivered more locally.


“We are sitting with a state of the art multi-million pound hospital on our doorstep which is grossly underused,” says Mr. Warrington, “The staff at South West Acute Hospital are absolutely fantastic. It is the management whom I would be critical of.”


In a letter to Health Minister Michelle O’Neill, Mr. Warrington says the South West is grossly under provided for in terms of MS care.
“My nearest MS nurse is in Altnagelvin Hospital,” he outlines, “We do have a consultant that visits the SWAH once a month, but I would argue that this is not enough. I know that there are enough MS patients in the South West area who would be able to sustain and justify having a permanent MS nurse in the SWAH, and more regular visits from the MS consultant.”


Mr. Warrington wrote to the Health Minister five weeks ago. To date, he has had no reply.


“I’d like to get talking to her with some other MS patients from here and let her know that we do exist. There are a lot of us down here and we need better MS care in this area,” says Mr. Warrington.
Looking ahead to his own future Mr. Warrington says he has to be “realistic”.


“People ask me will I put myself forward for the next council term. I can’t answer that question. When you are suffering from MS and you have had a treatment which is relatively new to the system, who knows how I am going to be in 2019. But if I feel how I feel now in 2016, then yes I would absolutely go again.”