CTV's W5 first broke the story of the "The Liberation Treatment" – a possible treatment for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) - in November 2009. The episode gained worldwide attention and featured exclusive interviews with Dr. Paolo Zamboni, who pioneered the controversial CCSVI procedure. It is one of the most-watched W5 episodes this season.
The Liberation Treatment set off shock waves in Canada and internationally with discussion online from W5 viewers here and around the world. The program garnered the attention of media and medical professionals globally. Constantly proving itself as the most-relevant current affairs program in the country W5 returns to this subject as CTV medical specialist Avis Favaro investigates the debate that has developed between MS patients and doctors in THE LIBERATION WAR, premiering Saturday, March 10 at 7 p.m. ET.
Favaro finds that MS patients desperate for new treatment options are taking bypassing doctors who are urging more scientific study of the treatment and are seeking diagnosis and treatment for CCSVI outside the traditional MS medical community. Doctors and MS societies fear that this rush to seek treatment goes against the principles of science, which requires rigorous testing and thorough evaluation of results before new treatments are adopted by the medical community.
At what point is science more important than treatment? W5 investigates, interviewing doctors who urge patients to slow down; patients who are moving ahead and seeking treatment, and a presents the shocking revelation that the CCSVI treatment for MS was proposed by an Austrian doctor more than twenty years ago – but his research proposals were rejected out of hand by MS experts who summarily declared there was no link between the disease and blocked or narrowed veins.
Also in this episode, "New Goals" as W5's Sandie Rinaldo looks at how hockey is changing the lives of children in one tough Toronto neighbourhood. Poverty, unemployment, gangs, drugs and death are the realities faced by students living in the notorious Jane/Finch neighbourhood. For a handful of students, many who have never been on skates before, being selected by Hockey Education Reaching Out To Society – HEROS for short – teaches these kids the focus and discipline required to excel in hockey – and along the way gives them life-changing lessons.
