Bexhill woman’s ‘race against time’ to get life-changing chemotherapy treatment for MS

Nikita Hoile was diagnosed with relapsing and remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS) in 2015, but has been suffering from the disease since 2012. “This is when my first episode occurred and I lost my vision, speech and my ability to walk. Thankfully, my body was at a stage where it could repair itself and I recovered,” she said.

Nikita, from Bexhill, has set up a GoFundMe page to try to raise enough money to travel to Mexico in March next year for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) - an intense 28-day chemotherapy treatment which aims to stop the damage MS causes by wiping out and then regrowing the immune system, using stem cells from her bone marrow.

She has so far raised more than £4,000 of the £45,000 she needs for the private treatment in Clinica Ruiz. Last month, Hastings United Football Club had collection buckets at the ground for fans to dig deep for her cause.