The Winner of the 2001 Nicholson Award for the International Caregiver of the Year was Ion Gîda of Romania

Ion Gîda

Ion has been a carer since 1971, when his wife was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. As well as supporting and caring for his wife, Ion regularly cares for 70 people with MS in his town - this includes 40 who are completely bedridden.

Ion, with his wife, did all that they could to help people with MS in his region in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1990 he helped to form the Neamt MS Foundation. In the same year he travelled with his wife to Bucharest to meet a representative from the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation, and consequently was involved in the forming of the National MS Society in Romania.

Being diagnosed with a non-curable disease in Romania during communist times was considered to be a disgrace and shame to the family. Many families could not stand the pressure and tried to hide the facts from their community. Often the person with the disease would be hidden away at home even if they were still, theoretically, able to live and enjoy an independent life. In most cases, just the diagnosis of something like MS was enough for a person to lose their job and be put permanently onto a meagre sick pension.

When Ion's young wife Alexandra was diagnosed in 1971, he was determined that this would not happen to her. Through his unfailing support, and through championing her rights, he ensured that she kept her job as a nurse for as long as she was able.

Together they also brought up two children. Fatigue is one of Alexandra's main problems, but she has always had Ion at her side to give whatever care necessary. He went much further than this, however, persuading the factory where he worked to to use its connections to enable Alexandra to go to Germany for treatment, as very little health care was and is still available in Romania. Using the German connections, Ion was able to get some support for others in his community who also had MS.

Together Ion and Alexandra built up a support group of 20 people with MS. Ion personally visited all these people regularly to offer whatever help he could. This included the practical help of trying to obtain pensions, putting people in touch with sympathetic doctors, locating and delivering available medicines and trying to find out which therapies might be of use. This situation continued for almost twenty years, until the revolution, after which Romanians were again able to form organisations and to ask for and receive information and help from the outside world.

In 1991, Ion persuaded the authorities to give the use of a building in which to create the Neamt MS Foundation. This organisation was then able to ask for and receive donations of clothing, food, medicines, medical equipment and aid, for the benefit of people with MS in the region. The Foundation quickly grew until it was actively helping 70 people with MS.

Ion visits all these people personally on a regular basis, sometimes visiting as many as six or seven each day. This close personal contact provides all 70 with a lifeline - 40 of these people are bedridden and depend on him to organise many facets of their lives. As well as this he has always ensured that he plays a caring and supportive role to his wife. It is she who is the president of the foundation and who, through his support, is able to be the figurehead, proving to everyone that having an incurable disease does not make you any less of a person.

In order for Alexandra to take on this role, Ion needs to be with her when she takes on its tasks. Thus he has backed her up in national meetings and, for example, learned with her how to use the internet to keep the regional foundation in contact with the national headquarters and other groups.

Alexandra is still able to walk unaided for short distances, but her problems with co-ordination means that Ion has to help her with many daily tasks. All this is always done with a cheerful smile. Somehow Ion appears to have an immeasurable supply of good humour and patience in all situations.

In addition to his caring and supportive role, Ion took on the challenge given to the MS Foundations in Romania by the Ministry of Health to locate a suitable site for a national MS hospital. Ion in fact found three possible sites, two of which were subjects of a feasibility study carried out by Michael Willis of the UK MS Society. Unfortunately the political and financial situation of Romania has made further progress on this endeavour impossible at present. It is hoped that the project will be taken up again by the new government.