NMOSD Your Way Global

The development of this podcast series was sponsored by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The viewpoints expressed are those of the persons speaking and not of Alexion.

Welcome to NMOSD Your Way Global, an educational podcast series for NMOSD patients worldwide. NMOSD stands for Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder, a rare relapsing autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system which primarily affects the optic nerves and the spinal cord.

Your podcast hosts, Lelainia Lloyd and Debbie Leticq, who have both lived with NMOSD for over 10 years will be bringing their respective Canadian and Australian perspectives to the table in order to help patients worldwide better understand NMOSD.

Over the next 16 episodes, clinicians, researchers, and fellow patients will come together to have important conversations about how to live your best life within your diagnosis. They will be offering up encouragement and practical tips for overall health and wellbeing.

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1. Meet your hosts (Lelainia Lloyd & Debbie Leticq)

‧ 30m 22s

In our first episode, we welcome our hosts of the NMOSD Your Way Global podcast series Lelainia Lloyd and Debbie Leticq.
The development of this podcast was sponsored by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The viewpoints expressed are those of the persons speaking and not of Alexion. If you have any questions regarding diagnosis or treatment please speak to your healthcare professional. This podcast was made possible with support from Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease. © 2023, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Newly diagnosed (Sumaira Ahmed)

‧ 29m 3s

Patient advocate and founder of The Sumaira Foundation, Sumaira Ahmed, discusses her personal journey to diagnosis and how that inspired her to create a foundation to help others facing this life changing condition.

As a second-generation Bengali-Burmese Muslim woman, Sumaira asks host Lelainia Lloyd, what if her parents hadn’t emigrated to the US and she had received her NMO diagnosis in a developing part of the world - what would have happened to her?

It was this realisation which motivated the international expansion of her foundation. Sumaira describes her determination as a patient advocate, in trying to bring multi-language resources...

3. Unpacking NMOSD (Dr. Lesley-Ann Hall)

‧ 31m 30s

In this episode, host Debbie Leticq speaks to neurologist Dr. Lesley-Ann Hall about her own journey to diagnosis, living with an ‘invisible illness and why it’s important to get an accurate diagnosis as soon as possible.  

Dr. Lesley-Ann Hall explains how the International Consensus Diagnostic Criteria for Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorders, published in 2015, has really helped clinicians solidify certainty around an NMOSD diagnosis.  

Dr. Hall also discusses the importance of supporting people to manage the day-to-day symptoms that they experience by giving them the knowledge and knowhow to be able to manage their NMOSD.
The development of this podcast...

4. NMOSD & MS what's the difference? (Dr. Daniel Selchen)

‧ 22m 0s

Historically known as Devic’s disease, for years NMO was considered a distant cousin of MS; however, today we now know that not only is NMOSD a completely different and distinct disease from MS, but it also has completely different treatments.

  Dr. Daniel Selchen, a neurologist and senior consultant at the MS clinic at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada explains the importance of receiving a correct diagnosis and discusses the advances in care for NMOSD patients.  

Host Lelainia Lloyd, who was herself misdiagnosed with MS, also discusses her own diagnostic journey which involved repeatedly testing seronegative for aquaporin-4. She asks...

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