Jay Leno auctioning one-of-a-kind truck to benefit MS

22/01/2016

TV legend and renowned car enthusiast Jay Leno has teamed up with Ford to auction his one-of-a-kind 2000 Harley-Davidson F-150 truck, with all proceeds from the auction going to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was in the news earlier this week following trials of a new treatment that uses chemotherapy and bone marrow stem cell transplants to halt the progress of the often disabling disease.

Doctors in the UK said that patients who had received the treatment – autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), which is also being trialed in hospitals in the US, Brazil and Sweden – had shown dramatic improvement.

HSCT involves destroying the immune system, which MS causes to attack the lining of nerves in the brain and spinal cord, using chemotherapy, then rebuilding it with stem cells taken from the patients’ blood that are at an early enough stage not to have developed the flaws that trigger MS.

However, the most non-invasive and pain-free way of harvesting stem cells is from naturally shed teeth. Baby teeth have the best cells for because the cells have not yet started to deteriorate due to age or pollution.

A perfect match is required for stem cell treatment otherwise the patient’s body may reject donated cells, forcing them to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their life.

The auction of Leno’s truck at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction is part of an annual event that began as a partnership between the National MS Society’s Michigan chapter and Ford Motor Company.

The auction will be shown live on Velocity on January 29th 2016 at 6pm MST, with Leno being joined on the auction block by the National MS Society’s Michigan chapter’s President Elana Sullivan. The funds raised will be used to help people living with MS across the country.