A DISTRAUGHT MS sufferer refused potentially life-changing treatment at the last minute has thanked kind-hearted members of the public for giving her renewed hope.

Sarah Waters told of her heartache at being turned down for radical surgery in India just days before she was due to leave the country.

However the mum-of-five has now been accepted for the same treatment in Mexico and despite costing £15,000 more than the £25,000 needed for surgery in India, donations have been pouring in.

Sarah from Poole, who has the most severe type of multiple sclerosis, said: “Everyone has had me in tears with their kindness. It has gone mad. Complete strangers have been donating because they were so moved by the story.

“I am so overwhelmed by the response.”

As soon as Sarah, 48, has raised the £42,000 in total, she will be put on the cancellation list and will arrange travel for Mexico.

As previously reported, Sarah’s life changed when she was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis in 2010 after her left leg began to drag.

But Sarah, who is confined to a wheelchair without the use of her legs and arms, had renewed hope and “felt a little light turn on inside me” after reading about a patient with the same type of MS, who underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) overseas and can now even walk again.

She wrote to a clinic in India with full details of her condition at the end of last year and was overjoyed she was accepted for the treatment that wipes out then regenerates the immune system, which can halt progression of aggressive multiple sclerosis and even reverse its systems.

Thanks to fundraising efforts including even completing a skydive, she paid in full for the treatment, flights booked for this Friday, a visa and hotels - money which she is now battling to get back.

But on Thursday Sarah woke up to an email from the consultant in India saying she is unsuitable for the treatment there despite providing full details of her condition months before.

She added: "I cried so hard when I got news from India. I said to my husband that my hope had gone and all I had was Dignitas. I said I didn't want to die. I didn't want to be without him and my kids. They are my world. I am so proud of them it's untrue. I want to be around as long as I possibly can for them. I love life! I can't believe the response and how unbelievably kind and generous people are. The messages and well wishes has really kept me going."

To support Sarah go to paypal.me/sarahwatershsct