http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4442836.stm

Amanda said the treatment showed almost instant benefits

A young Inverness woman with multiple sclerosis has said she is able to walk for the first time in years only days after revolutionary stem cell therapy.

Amanda Bryson paid £12,000 for a course of injections in the Netherlands, which she believes could cure her.

She has now called on the UK Government to make the treatment available here, but it said more research was needed.

Multiple sclerosis attacks the nervous system, causing loss of balance, reduced vision and localised paralysis.

Ms Bryson was diagnosed with the muscle-wasting disease five years ago and has been almost totally wheelchair-bound.

She read an article about stem cell treatment for her condition, unavailable in the UK, which was being carried out by a US company in Rotterdam.

The process, which she underwent last Friday, only took a few hours.

It just filled me with hope for the future Amanda Bryson

She said: "Within 10 minutes after the treatment I went to the bathroom on my wheelchair, I went to stand up and I thought I was jumping off my chair.

"It felt absolutely fantastic, brilliant.

"I thought at first 'this is in my mind', but I spoke to the nurse who told me it happens, they've seen it happen plenty of times.

"That's the moment where it just filled me with hope for the future."

She added that to date the treatment, using newborn babies' umbilical cords, had not hurt anyone.

She said: "It should be available to patients through their own choice, it's pretty upsetting that it won't be in this country for probably another 20 years."