Evan Thornton, who had been diagnosed with MS over 12 years ago, and wasn’t able to jog anymore in the last six years, can finally jog again thanks to a controversial MS surgery.

He used to love to jog, and did so regularly until his MS symptoms, and a common complication of them known as “drop foot” didn’t allow him to do what he liked. Drop foot manifests itself by not letting the sufferer raise his foot at the ankle, which basically means that the sufferer needs to raise his foot higher to allow his toes to clear the ground and walk – needless to say, jogging is impossible in this case.

However, Evan Thornton was able to start jogging again after a trip he took to Poland in March. There, he underwent a breakthrough and controversial surgery ( controversial in Canada for the moment, as many other countries like Bulgaria, Brasil, Poland and India are performing it without any restraints). As a result of the surgery, he was freed of many of his previous MS-related symptoms, including drop foot – which meant that he could start jogging again.

Of course, his drop foot didn’t just disappear over night, but rather got better with time. Evan said that “[…]recently, I realized it had been six weeks since I’d had it at all so I figured I could probably try jogging.”
So he started jogging again. Not long distances, as far as he can, which means only two kilometers for the moment, and then walks back home.

For most people two kilometers don’t sound much, but compared to the fact that before the surgery he had limited walking abilities, that’s is, for Evan at least, a major improvement.

The procedure Evan successfully underwent is the much controversial “liberation therapy”, which is a minor surgery pioneered by Italian doctor Paolo Zamboni. This procedure is based on the idea that MS is not a central nervous system illness, but rather a vascular disease.

Until now results have been controversial, but Evan Thornton started noticing improvement in most of his symptoms right after he had the surgery. For him, improvements meant that he was able to type more easily, and have more energy. Even today, his symptoms are less disabling, as he enjoys the surgery’s benefits and a steady decline of drop foot.

Another thing that happened right after the surgery for the man, who works for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, was the fact that he started blogging regularly, due to his new and regained energy. Thornton also runs two online publications, and according to him he’s now “a fair bit sharper”.

However, even if the procedure relieved some of his symptoms, this doesn’t mean that his MS is cured. As he says on his blog” I still know I have MS, or had MS damaging my nervous system for 12 years. One side is still noticeably (more numb) than the other, and I have a ringing in my ears that comes and goes, as I have for years. Fingers on the right hand are a little stiffer than the left hand, though better than before the operation.”  However,  the improvement in his condition unquestionable.