A WINYATES East woman is desperately trying to raise thousands of pounds for treatment which may restore some of the quality of life she had stolen from her by a terrible disease.

Maria Maserata has been living with the disabling neurological illness Multiple Sclerosis (MS) for nine years and is now hoping to travel to the Netherlands for pioneering treatment.

She was diagnosed at the age of 22, shortly after she and her husband found out she was pregnant with her second child.

After many months of agony and visits to the doctors and to hospitals, consultants discovered she had severe MS.

Her baby did not survive and had to be removed from the birth canal, fully formed.

The disease affects 85,000 people in the UK.

The debilitating symptoms include numbness to parts of the body, paralysis, muscle tremors or spasms and difficulty with balance and co-ordintation.

When she was first diagnosed, Maria had the facts of the illness explained to her but admits she did not really understand the severity of it.

"After being given some information, I was still fairly calm. But then I saw an old man from the hospital ward. He was outside trying to have a cigarette but someone had to hold it for him and put it up to his mouth -- he couldn't really do anything for himself.

''I was then told he had MS. I think that's when I began to realise what my life may become."

But after two and a half years in a wheelchair, watching her son Danny, now 11, struggle to come to terms with her illness and feeling "nothing like the person she was", Maria is striving for something which will restore part of her life.

She no longer has to use the wheelchair and is hoping to travel to Holland for a drug treatment which will replace cells destroyed by MS.

Now 31, she said: "This is a cruel and evil illness. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy but I do wish I hadn't been given it at such a young age.

"The treatment I want to have helps replace cells which have been destroyed by the MS. The treatment is not available in the UK so I have to go abroad.

"I'm not asking much from life, all I want is to feel slightly more like I was before.

''I am no longer the woman I was and is it fair for my 11 year old child to see me like this?"

The Leysters Close resident added: " I want to be normal. I want be able to spend a whole day enjoying myself in the fresh air with my son.

''I want to climb into a clean bed and feel the fresh sheets against my feet and legs.

''I want to get into a warm bath and appreciate the heat.

''I just want things most people take for granted."

Anyone who would like to help Maria raise the £9,000 she needs for treatment can call her on 07856 321007.