By ANGELA LEVIN
Last updated at 10:54 PM on 25th December 2010
Last updated at 10:54 PM on 25th December 2010
Canon Andrew White firmly believes in mind over matter, not least when it comes to his own health.
He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998, when he was 33 and two years ago became so unwell, that his family and friends feared he would not see the year through. He, however, refused to be cowed.
‘The ethos of my life is DON’T GIVE IN – whatever anyone says,’ he says.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing problems with muscle control, vision and balance.
About one in 1,000 people in the UK develop MS and it mostly strikes young adults between 20 and 40. It is incurable and treatment is usually confined to relieving its symptoms.
Instead of taking life at an easier pace, Canon White chose to devote himself to what must be one of the most arduous and dangerous jobs in the world. He is Vicar of St George’s Church in Baghdad, the only Anglican church in Iraq which has thrived under his charismatic leadership.
He is also president of The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, an organisation he founded to promote inter-faith relations and work towards resolving the religious conflict between Judaism, Islam and Christianity. He has become one of a small number trusted by virtually every side.
Being a Christian in Iraq is dangerous in itself and his church, in a compound just outside the Green Zone, is regularly bombed. There have been countless threats on his life and if he travels to another part of the city, he is protected by guards in armoured vehicles.
It is a knife-edged, hectic existence that would physically, psychologically and emotionally exhaust the fittest, let alone someone who has to run a parallel battle with an incurable disease. But Canon White is no ordinary man. He stands 6ft 3in tall and is broad of stature.
‘I won’t let MS stop me,’ he says. It is why, when he finally admitted he felt ill, he decided two years ago to be a guinea pig for a course of revolutionary-stem-cell treatment which is available in Baghdad, though not yet in the UK. To his great relief it has changed his life.
‘I felt better after one treatment,’ he says fingering his blue prayer beads.
‘I have since had 17 more treatments without any side effects. How ironic that Baghdad is ahead of the UK in this modern treatment.’
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