Our Someone 2 Know this week, Victoria 'Tori' Graves, recently returned from Mexico, where she underwent an experimental treatment.

The stem cell transplant she has shown a high success rate in treating cancers and auto-immune diseases, like hers. Now, she has invited the public to join her on her recovery journey.

We caught up with her at her Carson City home.

She's a busy mama to two young kids (6 and 3) and Tori Graves is fighting for her life, so she can be strong enough to raise them.  A few years ago, when she was just 27, doctors found lesions on Tori's brain.

“The doctor came in and said you don't have cancer, but you have Multiple Sclerosis"

Graves was diagnosed with relapse remitting Multiple Sclerosis, the most common type of MS.

"Your immune system is overactive and it sees the protective coating in your brain on the nerves - which is called myelin - it sees that as a threat and it eats it.  So then you have exposed nerves in your brain"

The ensuing physical and cognitive problems range in severity from patient to patient;

"Some days you cannot get out of bed, you can’t"

While there is no cure for MS, in her research Tori discovered a procedure called HSCT that uses the patient's own stem cells.

“They're doing trials right now to try to prove that this will stop MS not just help the symptoms"

In the U.S., those experimental procedures were shut down because of the pandemic.  So, Graves found a private treatment center in Mexico specializing in auto immune diseases.

“It’s called Clinica Ruiz and they have a wonderful rate of success.  It's the best so far in the world"

The price tag: $55,000

 "So my dad was so gracious, he sold his house and paid for my procedure"

Three months ago, tori traveled to Clinica Ruiz in Puebla, Mexico -for the complicated and sometimes painful HSCT procedure. She documented it all on Facebook;

"I figured I have to honestly share with people the good and the bad so they can know what it's like">

Chemo therapy is an essential part of the treatment, prior to the stem cell transplant, so tori's immunity is essentially that of a three month old.  And Graves says this 'rebirth' is the best thing she's ever done.

"I'm hoping that I can turn this into some type of career one day and help people with MS… and help them find resources that can help them maybe have a little bit better quality of life"

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Below is the link to Tori Graves Facebook blog called “Tori Beats MS- My HSCT Journey”

https://www.facebook.com/Tori-beats-MS-my-HSCT-journey-100414308452525