A MULTIPLE Sclerosis patient from Suffolk whose life has been transformed by a new wonder-drug is to travel to Downing Street to campaign for it to be provided on the NHS.

A MULTIPLE Sclerosis patient from Suffolk whose life has been transformed by a new wonder-drug is to travel to Downing Street to campaign for it to be provided on the NHS.

Tina Kartacayen, 49, was diagnosed with MS in 1992 and since then has tried numerous treatments to try to keep the symptoms under control, but with little success.

Earlier this year she began taking a new drug called Aimspro and has seen huge improvements, but the medicine is currently only available to patients who pay for it privately and Ms Kartacayen's funding is rapidly running out.

She said: “It costs £2,731 for a course of 15 injections and I managed to save up enough for 30.

“The benefits were almost instant. Within minutes of the first injection I could feel a difference with my eyes and could see much more clearly.

“Since then I've noticed so many other improvements, it's unbelievable.

“I can now hold a pen to write, my joints are not as painful as they were, the spasms I was suffering from have virtually gone and my back has strengthened enormously.”

Tests have also shown that her liver and kidney function have improved.

On Saturday Ms Kartacayen, of Fore Street, Framlingham, will be travelling to London along with five other MS patients and their carers to hand over a petition on behalf of the charity Proventus which campaigns for treatments to be made available to people with long term conditions.

Peter Branch, the national organiser for Proventus, said: “What we want to do is give people like Tina a voice.

“We are not asking the government to take any shortcuts to get this treatment on the NHS, we accept that there are procedures that have to be gone through.

“What we want to do is highlight the problems that people with MS face on a day to day basis and raise awareness of the disease.”