Imagine being told in your early thirties your body will shortly decay and you'll soon be in a wheelchair and eventually confined to a bed.
That's what Nelson woman Andrea Campbell was told when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It's a disease which attacks the central nervous system and takes over the brain and body.
Once a marathon runner, Ms Campbell couldn't accept this and didn't take the news lying down.
"It was just a shock, a complete shock. People said you've got to accept this and I thought, I wonder what that means?"
But she saw a video of something she calls a miracle cure and something her doctor had not seen.
It was the story of Kirsty Cruise, a young Australian mother with MS who underwent stem cell treatment in Russia and whose life changed dramatically afterwards.
This set Ms Campbell in a new direction with a new goal to get the same treatment.
She and her husband started a GiveALittle page and she ended up receiving the treatment in Mexico where it was cheaper.
A gruelling round of chemotherapy came first followed by a blood infusion to transplant the stem cells. It works by rebooting the immune system but there were no promises.
But fast-forward one year and the changes to her energy levels have been nothing short of miraculous. It has been a hard-fought battle so far but Ms Campbell isn't finished yet.
Watch the video for the full Story report.
