Ex-Mayor Audrey in fight for life
Audrey Jones: She is travelling to China in the New Year for stem cell
treatment
6/12/2007
A FORMER Lord Mayor of Manchester is to undergo pioneering stem cell
treatment in China in a bid to halt an otherwise fatal brain disease.
Councillor Audrey Jones, who helped to co-found the South Manchester
Reporter in the 1970s, has been diagnosed with cerebellar atrophy, a rare
progressive condition with symptoms likened to motor neurone disease.
She said: "It's like a death sentence with no respite."
Accompanied by her husband Ray, the mother of four grown-up children will
fly to China on January 9 where 30 days of treatment in hospital at Qingdao,
east of the Chinese capital Beijing, is due to begin the following day.
When Coun Jones, who lives on Heaton Road, Withington, became Manchester's
first Liberal Democrat Lord Mayor in 2003, she was already suffering from
early symptoms of her illness but it was not fully diagnosed until November
of last year.
"I had a cataract operation before my term in office after which my eyes
didn't seem to work together, making it difficult to read," she said.
"While I was Lord Mayor my attendants knew I had difficulty with
co-ordination because I couldn't walk up or down steps unless they held my
arm, but we managed and it was not obvious to anyone else that there was
something wrong with me.
"When they finally put a name to my condition I was shocked and depressed
because there is no cure.
"The doctor at Manchester Royal Infirmary said I would need stem cell
treatment but it would not be ready in this country in my lifetime.
"The worst aspect is that, over time, I will lose all voluntary movement. My
doctor says it is progressing slowly, but I don't think so. When I was
diagnosed a year ago I could walk. Now I can only do so with great
difficulty, holding on to someone."
Her daughter Helen, who had been Lady Mayoress when Coun Jones was first
citizen, was sent a newspaper article by her mother-in-law in Scotland about
a man who had received successful stem cell treatment in China.
"I contacted the chap in the article and he put us in touch with the Chinese
authorities,
"It may not work for me," she added ruefully. "And if it doesn't work,
that's my last chance. But I have to be optimistic."
Coun Jones has begun the process of resigning her council seat in the city's
Withington ward, which she has held for almost 30 years.
She was Manchester's first Liberal councillor of the modern era and for a
time was the party's only elected representative at the town hall.
"That was a tough time," she said.
Before becoming Lord Mayor she had sought nomination for the post more than
a dozen times, determined each year to challenge Labour's monopoly of the
position. Eventually a proportionality deal was struck in 2002 and Coun
Jones at last realised her ambition.
She chose not to return to her profession in pharmaceutical research after
raising her family but instead co-founded the South Manchester Reporter as a
community newspaper in the late 1970s. It is now owned by the Guardian Media
Group.
http://www.southman
ght_for_life
Above is the video lick to watch the interview with her.
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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