The redevelopment of the St Mary's site in Halton, home to the centre, has meant the 20-year-old site has to be closed down and relocated to a much larger, grander centre.

The move is far from simple however, as the MS centre relies solely on voluntary funding, so the £1.5 million relocation costs will be totally met by the centre.

The facilities and support provided by the centre are a lifeline to many, who are left isolated and struggling to cope with the effects of MS.

MS is where the immune system attacks the central nervous system. It may cause numerous physical and mental symptoms, and often progresses to physical and cognitive disability.

There are varying degrees of the disease, some where the symptoms take years to develop, some where it can develop very quickly and severely, and some which can level off and seemingly stay the same for the rest of the sufferer's life.

Iris Hedges, a long-time patient of the Chiltern MS Centre says the therapy and support provided by the staff helps her in day-to-day living and coping with the disease. She travels from Oxford every week for oxygen therapy and physiotherapy.

"I was diagnosed in 1988 and started coming to the centre in 1989, where it was in the Paddocks Hospital in Princes Risborough at the time. I come for the company as well as my physio which is very important; it's a lovely atmosphere.

"I'm a trained nurse, so I knew about MS but when I was diagnosed, that's when it really hit me. You have to plan your life round MS and all the things you had planned for your retirement have to change respectively.

"For me MS isn't too bad. I can walk around with an aid; I use a wheelchair when I go out for the day, and I do have a very supportive husband.

"It can vary from day to day and from hour to hour, but fatigue is a big problem and that's where the oxygen treatment helps me. It's not the kind of fatigue that comes at the end of a busy day, it's the kind that hits you when you walk in a shop and all of a sudden you are so tired you physically can't move."

Mrs Hedges receives physiotherapy from the centre's trained specialists and oxygen therapy where she is placed in a chamber along with a handful of other patients and they are made to breathe in pure oxygen, helping to get blood to their muscles, enabling them to function properly.

The centre, which currently has 500 patients, costs £350,000 a year to run and it receives £100,000 a year in voluntary donations.

So far, the centre has raised £1,273.98 in the space of a year and have to reach £1.3 million through their own fundraising before they turn to the public to help with the final push to reach the £1.5 million target.

Sue Barber, from the centre, said of the disease and the help it gives to sufferers: "The NHS is really bad for MS and it has been known that consultants say to people after their diagnosis that there is no cure.

"Part of the fundraising is to also tell people who otherwise wouldn't know we are here about the help we can offer."

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