British Columbians living with Multiple Sclerosis deserve access to ALL Health Canada-approved MS disease-modifying therapies.

This started as my fight. It became a fight for all of us.

In July 2017, at just 32 years old, I was diagnosed with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis after experiencing severe optic neuritis. I lost vision in my right eye, and my left was following close behind.. Permanent optic nerve damage, brain lesions and a diagnosis I never thought I would ever hear. Multiple Sclerosis.

Today, I continue to live with the consequences of that damage. Impaired vision, tremors and reduced hand function, leg weakness, spasms, mobility challenges, and neurological symptoms that affect my everyday life.

I know what MS has taken from me. I know what it means to fight for the abilities you still have, and I know how much is at stake when it comes to protecting them.

In March 2018, I started a therapy called Ocrevus,  after months and months of fighting to save my vision. It slowly stabilized my disease and gave me something I will never take for granted: hope, time and the opportunity to keep being present for my children and my future.

When I started this treatment, provinces across Canada were adding it to their public plans, I believed British Columbia would follow. I accessed it through the manufactures patient assistance program and later through private insurance with the hope B.C. would be next. Almost 10 years later, that still hasn’t happened. 

Then November 2025, my access to treatment was threatened by insurance limitations and provincial coverage barriers, and I found myself fighting a battle I never expected to face. Fighting for access to a therapy I had been on for nearly a decade, one that helped save my vision and protect my future. Being forced to switch, or go without. 
Your vision is not something you gamble with just to appease a budget line, nor is every switch safe for every patient. 

But something also happened along the way.

My personal fight became something much bigger.

I never imagined I would become an advocate. I never imagined sharing my story publicly, speaking with media, standing at healthcare forums or speaking directly with government officials about the realities of living with MS.

I never imagined the countless emails, phone calls, meetings, campaigns and conversations that would consume every part of my life.

And I certainly never imagined how many other people would share their stories with me.

Hundreds of voices. Hundreds of experiences. Same diagnosis’s , different disease courses, different treatments, different losses and different fears.

I’ve heard from people who are newly diagnosed but can not access their recommended therapy, people who have exhausted treatment options, ones who remain on therapies that are causing horrific  side effects but can not access another in its class that could lessen or prevent those side effects , people who have lost access to medications and people who are terrified of what happens if the treatment keeping their disease stable is no longer available to them.

I carry those stories alongside my own.

Because this is no longer just about my access to treatment. It is about every British Columbian living with MS who deserves the opportunity to access the care their medical team believes is right for them.

British Columbia cannot continue to be an outlier.

People living with MS in every other province have pathways to access the full range of approved treatment options, while British Columbians continue to face restrictions that limit those same opportunities.

British Columbia continues to restrict access to the full range of MS therapies.

BC is the only province without public coverage for the Health Canada-approved anti-CD20 treatments for relapsing MS, Ocrevus and Kesimpta.

People living with MS in every other province have public coverage pathways for these treatments.

This is not about asking for every medication for every person.

It is about recognizing that MS is not a one-size-fits-all disease, and treatment should not be either.

What works for one person may not work for another. Some people need alternatives because of disease activity, treatment failure, side effects or individual medical circumstances. Some may face forced switching while stable putting that stability in a very uncertain risk category as not every patients disease can tolerate a switch.

Patients and their neurologists need the ability to make informed, individualized treatment decisions without being unnecessarily restricted by provincial funding policies.

Where you live should not determine which medically appropriate MS treatments you can access.

What we are fighting for

We are calling on the Government of British Columbia and the Ministry of Health to:

- Establish equitable PharmaCare coverage pathways for ALL Health Canada-approved MS disease-modifying therapies.

- Remove unnecessary restrictions that prevent access to clinically appropriate treatment options.

- Recognize individual medical histories, treatment responses, contraindications and the clinical judgment of treating neurologists.

- Ensure patients have access to alternative therapies when their current treatment is ineffective, unsuitable or no longer appropriate.

- Establish transparent, timely and consistent coverage and review processes.

- Meaningfully involve people living with MS and their healthcare professionals in decisions that directly affect their treatment and futures.

This is about choice, access and equitable care.

Not every person needs every medication. But every person deserves the opportunity to access the treatment that is right for them.

Behind every policy is a person.

A parent hoping to watch their children grow up.

A young adult trying to build a future after diagnosis.

Someone who has already lost vision, mobility or independence.

Someone whose disease is stable because they found a treatment that works.

Someone newly diagnosed, trying to understand what lies ahead.

These are not just medication names, funding requests or numbers on a spreadsheet.

These are people. Families. Futures. Lives.

I never imagined that my own experience with MS would bring me into conversations and places I never thought I’d reach. I never imagined how many people would trust me with their stories or how much responsibility I would feel to make sure those stories were heard.

But I am here. And I am not fighting just for myself.

We are asking for something fundamental: equitable access to ALL Health Canada-approved MS therapies for people living in British Columbia.

Please sign and share this petition. Whether you live with MS, love someone with MS or believe that access to medically appropriate healthcare should not depend on your postal code, your voice matters.

We should not have to lose more before our concerns are heard.

MS has already taken enough. Access to treatment shouldn’t be another battle.

British Columbia, it’s time to close the gap.