TALIA CARLISLE/Stuff.co.nz

HOLDING ON TO HOPE: Amy Clague needs to raise $100,000 to cover flights to Russia and a stem cell transplant which she hopes will give her a chance at a normal life.

A multiple sclerosis diagnosis was not the 20th birthday present Amy Clague was hoping for.

The Melrose nanny was celebrating with family last year when she noticed something wasn't right.

"My right side was kind of numb," Clague said.

"[The next day] I woke up and it hadn't gone away. Day three it was in my face. It had spread."

Clague had no feeling on her right side from her toes to her face when she visited Wellington Hospital's emergency department for tests.

Four possible outcomes weighed on Clague's mind as she awaited the doctor's results.

"It was going to be multiple sclerosis [MS], a brain tumour, a brain bleed or a stroke."

But Clague's mother, a neurological physiotherapist who treats MS patients, knew the answer.

Read more:
21-year-old MS sufferer: 'I feel like my life is on hold'

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