A TREATMENT centre for people with multiple sclerosis has opened its doors to showcase its facilities and the hope it is giving patients.

The West of England MS Therapy Centre is tucked away in a housing estate in Bradley Stoke but its pioneering work has raised its profile across the South West and patients with all kinds of conditions and illnesses are seeking help at the charity-run centre.

Boasting Bristol’s only oxygen chamber as well as an exercise suite and offering therapies including acupuncture, aromatherapy, hypnotherapy, counselling and life coaching, the centre is now helping people with cancer, fibromyalgia, stroke patients and those recovering from operations.

Founded by Jackie Brightwell, whose husband had MS, in 1985 in Nailsea, a new purpose-built centre opened in Bradley Stoke in 2012 and now has 276 members.

One is MS sufferer Liz Ranger, from Chipping Sodbury, who moved to South Gloucestershire from Portishead specifically to be closer to the therapy centre.

“I go for oxygen therapy once a month on a Wednesday,” said Liz, 37. “It helps with my pain, eye sight and my mobility as I get a leg drag.

“I go in for 90 minutes and half way through my brain fog lifts. I come out a bit tired and hungry but there are certain things I can do that day which I can’t do on other days.”

Claire Little, known as Barny to her friends and family in Chipping Sodbury, had major surgery in 2014 which partially removed a brain tumour the size of an orange. Mother-of-one Barny, 43, cannot have further surgery and has turned to alternative therapies and oxygen treatment to try and reduce the tumour.

“I only started a couple of weeks ago because I heard cancer does not like oxygen,” she told the Gazette. “I am lucky to have an oxygen chamber so close and it only costs £20 a session.

“I have another scan in a few weeks and that is the only way to measure it.”

She added: “I can’t have more surgery because I would lose all my memory so I am just going to see what I can do. It is all about self-belief.

“I have given up sugar, carbs, alcohol and caffeine and I feel really good. It has taken quite a long time to come on board with it all, initially it was like a grieving process.”

Oxygen co-ordinator Angela Ball, who herself has MS, said: “The nearest other chamber is in Gloucester but that is more claustrophobic. Ours can seat seven people and it is like a great escape, I take my iPad in and catch up on soaps.

“It is starting to be used for cancer treatment and there is evidence treatment can shrink brain tumours but oxygen treatment can also help all sorts of conditions and speeds up recovery from operations.

“We are also a support network as well as a therapy centre but we receive no NHS funding.”

Senior physiotherapist Amrik Singh Sidhu said the centre’s team of three physios, two assistants and a sports therapist had been helping people with all types of neurological conditions, Parkinsons, strokes, spinal chord injuries and other rare conditions for several years.

“The main goal for anyone coming to the centre is to improve their balance, that is our top priority, and to increase fitness levels,” he said.

“Most have become less active but it is not just about physio, it is about talking to each other and listening to the impact MS or other conditions have on people.

“We have seen some really good improvements from exercise classes.”

The centre is run entirely on donations, visit mstherapybristol.org.uk for more information.