New drug leaves MS patients hopeful New MS drug gives patients with chronic disease hope

When: 9 a.m.May 7

Where: Ocean City Sports and Civic Center, East Sixth Street and Boardwalk

How much: Fundraising encouraged

More info: Visit nationalmssociety.org or call 215-271-1500

SOMERS POINT - Traci Signer tries to go to as many conferences on multiple sclerosis as she can.

After nearly 16 years of living with MS, Signer, 43, said staying educated on the newest therapies, drug treatments and trials is the only way she can make informed decisions.

When experts and scientists come up with improved ways to treat multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system, it gives all patients hope, she said.

The Food and Drug Administration in March approved the first drug to treat a severe form of MS. The drug, under the brand name Ocrevus, was also approved to treat people with relapsing multiple sclerosis, a more common form of the disease.

{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="c9105148-1afc-11e7-a8e0-00163ec2aa77"}}

"As the first therapy specifically approved to treat primary progressive MS, this represents a significant milestone," said Kathy Costello, associate vice president of healthcare access at the National MS Society.

Signer has relapsing MS, not the primary progressive form, but empathizes with those who had limited options in the past to treat the disease.

Using a cane to get from the kitchen to the couch in the living room, Signer pulled out a seven-day medication organizer. More than a dozen green, red, blue and white pills spilled into her hand, which is what she takes to manage symptoms for just a single day.

An estimated 400,000 people are living in the United States with multiple sclerosis, according to the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. People are most commonly diagnosed between 20 and 50 years old, and more women than men develop the disease.

{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="b2e6e50c-1a17-11e7-9fc6-00163ec2aa77"}}

Experts have labeled it an invisible disease because many characteristics are not obvious. Signer was diagnosed at 29 years old, a single mother to a 2-year-old son at the time. She suddenly lost vision in one eye, an indicator of the disease.

Medication and therapy helped her get early symptoms like vision loss and numbness under control, which then led to a seven-year period when her MS was stable and inactive. She eventually relapsed, and the same therapies she used the first time were not as successful.

"The one thing I learned is that no matter how mild of a case you have, as you get older, it progresses," Signer said. "And people will say, 'You don't look sick.' I say, 'You should see it from my perspective.'"

Neurologists say multiple sclerosis affects everyone differently, even if they have the same form of the disease. People can suffer fatigue, numbness, vertigo, stiffness and muscle spasms, bladder and bowel problems, chronic pain, light and heat sensitivity, tremors - the list goes on.

{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="3e5e743c-1951-11e7-9522-00163ec2aa77"}}

Signer said she was able to manage her symptoms and continue to work, both at a veterinary office and later at ShopRite, earlier in the disease. But increased pain, muscle weakness, tremors and fatigue forced her to go out on full-time disability in November.

"I went from being a single mother saying, 'I can do this, I can do that,'" she said, "and then bam! I can't walk."

Advances in treatment for multiple sclerosis have developed over the years, but experts say patients respond differently to the medications.

FDA officials said studies showed Ocrevus had positive results in reducing relapse rates and worsening disability in patients with the relapsing form of MS, like Signer has.

Signer has hope for herself and others that one day they may be able to get up and down stairs without difficulty, play guitar with feeling in all their fingers, return to work, drive and do things others take for granted.

"Sometimes you don't know what someone is going through unless you walk in their shoes," Signer said. "You have to look at not what you're lacking but what you have. You're not dead, and as long as you're not dead, stay positive and look at what you can do."

Contact:609-272-7022 NLeonard@pressofac.comTwitter @ACPressNLeonard