He has now been
receiving HBOT for eight years and his improvement, say his parents,
is little short of miraculous. "Before the treatment, his body was
tight all the time," says Teresa. "His understanding came back very
quickly. To begin with, he couldn't see. But now he can read, his
maths is good and he can tell the time. He is starting to be able to
squeeze a switch, which could open up a new form of communication.
We take him to football matches and to horse-riding for the
disabled. He remembers everything. He will never walk, but we have
our child back. I believe in my heart that if he had gone into a
hyperbaric oxygen chamber as soon as the accident happened, he would
probably have been OK."
Doctors might be more circumspect, perhaps, but access to HBOT for
Andrew at the time of his accident would have been as unlikely then
as it is now for thousands of people who could benefit from it.
Most doctors are unaware of the therapeutic potential of oxygen
because they are not taught about it as medical students. However,
research shows that not only can it reverse potentially fatal
conditions, such as radiation tissue damage, carbon-monoxide
poisoning, gas gangrene and necrosis (when tissue dies following
infection), it is also effective for wounds that fail to heal and a
wide range of other conditions, including multiple sclerosis.
Oxygen is crucial to tissue repair, but its delivery is often
impaired by damage to blood vessels. Breathing high levels under
hyperbaric conditions (increased atmospheric pressure) raises the
amount of dissolved oxygen in the circulation - so more reaches the
tissues.
The Daily Telegraph recently highlighted the case of Lisa Norris,
16, who suffered a massive radiation overdose during treatment for a
brain tumour. Her symptoms included a severely burned scalp, which
healed after several sessions in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber.
Following that article - which mentioned HBOT's therapeutic
applications - many desperate people contacted us, wanting to know
where their nearest unit was. The news is not good: oxygen chambers
cost about £50,000 and most of the 75 hyperbaric centres in Britain
are run by charities, principally for MS sufferers. A few are
privately run, mostly for the victims of diving accidents, but there
are only five NHS units.
"It is ironic that the most powerful intervention in medicine is
being used by lay people in the community,'' says Prof Philip James,
Britain's leading expert in HBOT, who is based at the University of
Dundee.
Part of the problem, according to Jane Dean, is that HBOT is
considered "alternative" and people are scared of going against
their doctor or consultant's advice.
Dean, who, following her experience with Andrew Waddington, founded
the Breath for Life charity to provide HBOT, says charities such as
hers face other problems.
Sudan, Khartoum
Japan, Tokyo City
Syria, Damascus
Finland, Helsinki
Norway, Oslo
Liechtenstein, Vaduz
Kenya, Nairobi
Djibouti, Djibouti
Hungary, Budapest
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
