Case study : 'It was the little things at first …then my left leg stopped working'

Lesley Jamie was 24 years old when the doctor told her that she was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis.

Now 35, she has been in a wheelchair since 2006 and sees the research clinic as a way forward into better understanding the disease.

Ms Jamie, of Edinburgh, who is working in capital planning and projects for NHS Lothian, said: "This clinic is completely different and hopefully it will help patients by really looking at their condition.

"The prevalence of multiple sclerosis is huge in Scotland, so it makes sense to have the clinic here. Hopefully it will help us understand why this condition actually happens and effects everyone differently."

Ms Jamie knew something was wrong about two years before she received the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. She began tripping up and was finding it difficult going to her gym classes.

At first she was told it was just because she was not as fit as she used to be, but when the diagnosis came it changed everything.

She said: "It was the little things at first, then my left leg stopped working properly and then I started to have problems with both legs and eventually needed to use a wheelchair. Everything is much harder and takes so much longer, even getting up in the morning."

"Hopefully, through research and looking at patients individually, we will eventually be able to conquer this condition."

Scottish patients such as Ms Jamie will be "recruited" to take part in the "patient-led" research at the new centre, where trials of potential new treatments will be a key component of their work.

Professor Charles ffrench-Constant, co- director of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Multiple Sclerosis Research, said: "We can only find improved treatments if we can truly understand diseases and the biological processes behind them.

"The Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic will enable us to carry out studies that can inform laboratory research and, in turn, this knowledge can be translated back into treatments for patients."

He added: "We will very much be looking to recruit Scottish MS sufferers to help us with that, without impinging on the excellent treatment they already receive on the NHS."