Appeal to help Jane walk - and smile again

Jane Gould finds it a struggle to walk unaided.

Friends and family are helping raise funds for Jane Gould to receive new stem cell treatment, which could get her back on her feet again.

Her condition has progressed and now Jane, 43, has increased mobility problems and gets exhausted doing simple tasks most of us would take for granted.

Jane, 43, a teacher, said: “My condition often leaves me in tears because I’m unable to move.

“My body seizes up which is really challenging and frustrating for me because as I was a yoga teacher for ten years and could get myself into all sorts of positions with ease.”

Now Jane has to rely on her partner, Travis and two teenagers to help her get dressed due to lack of fine motor skills.

She said: “It’s like there’s a hole or gap in communication from my brain to body. I want my body to do something, but however much I ask it to it won’t. It sometimes does it a little which is how I can still stand for short periods and walk, very slowly and wobbly - with assistance. That to me feels like a blocked tap which only lets a little bit of water through.”

Jane, who attended Harris School and is daughter of Rugby vicar Pam Gould and husband Bruce, loved exercising and being active.

Jane was a yoga teacher...now she finds it hard to move.

She played county netball, hockey and athletics as a girl and then went on to yoga and hiking.

“Now if I don’t use my walking stick I fall over,” she said.

There are invisible symptoms as well such as numbness, tingling, loss of balance and depression, and others are too personal to print.

Jane, a former reporter on the Rugby Advertiser, needs $30,000 to fund the treatment, which has had positive results among other people with the condition.

Thousands of dollars have already been raised and Jane said the support has been “overwhelming”.

Jane said: “This treatment is my one chance.

“At this time this is all there is available to me. I refuse to sit by and let the MS win.”

Donate to Jane’s treatment by visiting https://www.gofundme.com/2hckh2c

A fundraiser is taking place in Nuneaton to raise funds for Jane’s treatment.

It takes place at Weddington Social Club on September 30.

There will be games and attractions for all ages. Everyone is welcome.

For more information or to make a donation - however big or small - telephone Lucie Green on 07803 505 995, email [email protected]

Weddington Social Club is at 252A Weddington Road, Nuneaton CV10 0ER.