Former heavyweight NSL club, Sydney Olympic FC, will host the A-League’s most successful outfit, Sydney FC, at Belmore in the Round of 32 in the FFA Cup.
“It’s fantastic to be drawn to play Sydney FC. A game like this is really great for the club as a whole, great for the die hard fans and obviously nice for the players to test themselves,” Sydney Olympic head coach, Ante Juric, tells The Greek Herald.
“This year we’ve put more emphasis on the future, as can be seen with our youthful squad, where close to half the squad of players are under 22, so we are a team in transition but building nicely for the future years.”
— Sydney Olympic FC (@SydneyOlympicFC) July 8, 2021
Mr Juric went on to say that drawing Sydney FC will be a great opportunity for all the players to showcase the team’s potential and to fast track their development as individuals and as a team.
“The team will respect Sydney FC, as they have proven to be the best team in Australia over the past 5 years. However, we will do everything we can to win and progress,” the head coach says.
“The club has a superb history of winning, winning against the odds and of being title/cup winners, it’s in the club’s bloodline. Past glories in the NSL show that and recent glories in the NSWNPL reinforces that as a club.
“All in all, again, this is a great opportunity and as a team we are looking forward to the grandeur of the game versus SFC and we will give it everything we have to get a positive result.”
Teams in the round of 32 have been divided into four zones to avoid potential problems caused by border restrictions.
The winner of this year’s Cup will have the chance to qualify for the 2022 AFC Champions League.
The history of Lagias Spirits stretches back so far that it begins in the era of the Ottoman Empire.
Aaron Lagias has decided to revive his great-great grandfather’s ouzo decades later at a distillery in Brunswick, Melbourne, which sources Balinese vanilla bean from his wife, Yeni’s, company.
“It just works perfectly that I get to use this amazing vanilla from my wife’s village in Bali into our Greek spirits,” he says.
“It’s a little bit of a multicultural twist.”
Aaron Lagias collaborates with his wife Yeni to produce his local ouzo (Source: Instagram)
Lagias says he used Melbourne’s second lockdown to begin piecing together his family’s forgotten ouzo with the help of a distillery owner in Greece called John Lagias.
“…there’s not many ‘Lagais’’ around but I found one in Greece and we were chatting… his mum was involved in the original label,” he says.
“I gathered a fair bit of information on the recipe and I thought it was too good to not do something with because it doesn’t exist anymore in Greece.”
“The recipe that I’ve been using is as close to what I’ve gathered.”
He refined his product with expertise, flavour profiling and exact measurements during what he calls a “very creative period” before bottling and sending off the first batch of the ouzo in decades.
The original ‘Lagias’ ouzo has been spotted around Greece three decades after being discontinued (left) and Lagias has managed to find its earliest existing label from the 1800s (right) (Source: Supplied)
The ‘Lagias’ style of ouzo was launched in a town called Myriofito in eastern Thrace in 1773 and thrived for over a century, even after the Greece-Turkey population exchange of 1923 saw the brand relocate to Thessaloniki.
“…On the label, which I found, which goes back to the 1800s, mentions that the distillery was established in 1773,” he says.
“That’s how we know it went back that far.”
‘Lagias’ became a staple in Thessaloniki until it “disappeared” somewhere around the late 1980s, Aaron Lagais says, but his grandparents and father John left ‘Lagias’ behind when they set out for Melbourne in 1969.
“It wasn’t something that was at the front of [my dad’s] mind… [or] that he shared for many years,” Aaron says.
“When my dad came to Australia, I don’t think anyone was drinking ouzo, I think it was all VB’s [sic],” he jokes.
Mr. Lagias distilled his first batch of ouzo (far right) last October and has just recently began distributing it (Source: Instagram)
Aaron’s father John, now approaching his 70’s, parted the stories of Lagias ouzo onto Aaron and inspired him to revive their family’s legacy.
“My dad shared this story with me and inspired me to do it, otherwise I would have never known about the history,” Lagias says.
“Hopefully [my great-great grandfather] would taste it and think it’s amazing and a much cleaner, crisp taste as opposed to what they would have been drinking back then.”
He notes he uses traditional ingredients like nutmeg and cinnamon but fuses his ouzo with honey.
“I’ve tried to keep it really traditional,” he says.
There’s a lot more in store, including possibly exporting to European and Asian markets.
A vanilla, honey, and clove rakomelo spirit, as well as a tsipouro, is in the works.
“We’re playing around with those recipes at the moment and releasing at least one of the two in the next month,” he reveals.
NSW recorded 44 locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday. Of the 44 new community cases, 29 were either partially or fully exposed to the community.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said “that is the number that is really concerning us” and that “it tells us those numbers are going to go up” in coming days.
“This is the opposite of where we need or want the numbers to trend.”
Tightening of restrictions for Greater Sydney:
Following this news, Berejiklian announced further tightened restrictions for the areas already in lockdown, saying with the current vaccination levels “we will see thousands and thousands of hospitalisations and death” if the virus is allowed to circulate.
NSW recorded 44 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/Z7g7eyzT2d
From 5pm today (Friday, 9 July) the following additional restrictions will be in place:
Outdoor public gatherings limited to two people (excluding members of the same household);
People must stay in their Local Government Area or within 10kms of home for exercise and outdoor recreation, with no carpooling between non-household members;
Browsing in shops is prohibited, plus only one person per household, per day may leave the home for shopping;
Funerals limited to ten people in total (this will take effect from Sunday, 11 July).
The four reasons to leave your home remain in place:
Shopping for food or other essential goods and services (one person only);
Medical care or compassionate needs (only one visitor can enter another residence to fulfil carers’ responsibilities or provide care or assistance, or for compassionate reasons);
Exercise with no more than 2 (unless members of the same household);
Essential work, or education, where you cannot work or study from home.
Restrictions in regional NSW will remain unchanged.
Dimitris Lignadis, the former director of the National Theater who is in pre-trial detention facing a number of rape charges, has submitted a request to be released on condition that he remain under house arrest and wear an electronic monitoring device.
Appearing before an investigating magistrate on Thursday, the actor refused to respond to questions about two more rape allegations, presenting a written statement that refuted the new charges instead.
In his statement, Lignadis, who has already been charged with repeatedly raping two minors, denies the new allegations of raping a 17-year-old male seven years ago and an adult in 2018.
Plain-clothed policemen escort handcuffed well-known actor and director Dimitris Lignadis, center, to a magistrate’s office in Athens, Sunday, February 21, 2021. Photo: AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis.
His lawyer, Alexis Kougias, said his client had filed an injunction against the investigator for prejudice.
Appealing for release, Lignadis stated he would bear the cost of the electronic monitoring device. Electronic monitoring is currently being piloted in Greece.
Plain clothed police officers escort handcuffed well-known actor and director, Dimitris Lignadis, center, as they leave a magistrate’s office in Athens, Sunday, February 21, 2021. Photo: AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis.
A judicial council will now decide on whether the new rape charges should result in another order for additional pre-trial detention or whether it can be covered by the existing one. The maximum period of pre-trial detention is 18 months. If another warrant is issued against the actor, his maximum pre-trial detention could be extended to 24 months.
Lignadis was returned to Tripoli prison after the hearing.
Posting just hours after Olympic officials announced that the Games in Tokyo would go ahead without spectators following a surge in COVID cases, Kyrgios said the lack of fans influenced his decision.
“It’s been my dream to represent Australia at the Olympics and I know I may never get that opportunity again,” he wrote on Twitter.
“But I also know myself. The thought of playing in front of empty stadiums just doesn’t sit well with me. It never has.”
Kyrgios withdrew his name from selection from the Rio Olympics in 2016, after a feud with then-chef de mission Kitty Chiller, who said his behaviour suggested he did not “understand what it meant to be Australian.”
However, the Canberra native was picked for Tokyo after taking most of 2020 off due to the COVID pandemic.
Kyrgios was injured at Wimbledon.
He returned in the Australian Open, losing a five-setter to Dominic Thiem in the third round, before skipping the French Open in May.
Kyrgios showed some trademark form and shotmaking at Wimbledon before retiring hurt in his third-round match against Felix Auger-Aliassime with an abdominal injury.
In his statement, Kyrgios said he “wouldn’t want to take an opportunity away from a healthy Aussie athlete” ready to represent the country.
“I will also take all the time I need to get my body right. Good luck to all the Aussies competing and I’ll see you back on the court real soon,” he concluded.
The European Union will “never, ever” accept a two state deal on ethnically-split Cyprus, the head of its executive said on Thursday.
Ursula von der Leyen, who was visiting Cyprus, said the European Union spoke with one voice on the conflict, which has dragged on for decades and is a key hurdle in Turkey’s ambitions of joining the bloc.
“I want to repeat that we will never, ever accept a two state solution. We are firm on that and very united,” von der Leyen told a news conference.
Εγκρίθηκε από την @EU_Commission το Σχέδιο #Κύπρος_το_αύριο. Μια γενναία τομή που θα μεταμορφώσει τη χώρα και θα αλλάξει τη ζωή του κάθε πολίτη.🇪🇺🇨🇾
— Nicos Anastasiades (@AnastasiadesCY) July 8, 2021
Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek inspired coup. The south is run by an internationally recognised government which represents the entire island in the European Union, while the north is a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state recognised only by Ankara.
United Nations-led efforts which predate 1974 events have failed to unite the island. The present stalemate is steeped in disagreements of the form unification could take – a union of two independent states advocated by a new Turkish Cypriot leadership, or as a loose federation advocated by Greek Cypriots representing Cyprus internationally.
Talks in Geneva earlier this year on the matter ended inconclusively.
Disagreement has also focused on competing claims over offshore energy reserves, a dispute connected to quarrels between Turkey and Greece, a key ally of the Greek Cypriots.
“Our neighbours have (an) interest in good bilateral relations. If this is the case, and we also have an interest in good bilateral relations, I want our neighbours to know that if they speak to one of our member states, like for example Cyprus, in whatever tone, they speak to the European Union,” von der Leyen said.
The Deputy Minister of Tourism in Greece, Sofia Zacharaki, expects a noticeably better tourist season in 2021, as she reveals in her exclusive interview with The Greek Herald.
Mrs Zacharaki states that the “key to the success of Greek tourism in the new era is the factor of special forms of tourism and the emphasis on the many and different experiences of our guests in Greece.”
At the same time, she sends a message of support to our community, emphasising that “Greece and Australia are countries with strong ties, thanks to the dynamic presence of the Greek diaspora.”
In a difficult season, due to the pandemic, we asked Mrs Zacharaki for her assessment of how Greek tourism will go.
“It is a fact that Greek tourism has opened, and it has opened safely just as we have repeatedly pledged that it will. Not only about when but also about how! On May 15, 2021 we set sail and we are on a course that we know has challenges,” she tells The Greek Herald.
“But we have a plan which is the outcome of words and actions. And this was not done by chance. Previously we have taken all the necessary measures to ensure an opening that is both dynamic and safe.
“And that is something that is recognised internationally. It is indicative that the World Tourism Organisation held its conference in Athens some time ago, sending from here the message of opening up tourism internationally.
“But also from the countries of origin of our tourists, our traditional and new markets, we receive the huge desire of everyone to visit Greece. And this desire, with concrete steps, we translate into practice.
“Our most important weapon is vaccination and we give our fellow citizens the opportunity to be vaccinated effortlessly and with availability throughout Greece.”
The Deputy Minister of Tourism in Greece, Sofia Zacharaki. Photo supplied.
The great opportunity of the Recovery Fund:
In the years of the pandemic, the challenges for the Ministry of Tourism have changed. Safety seems to be the main factor, which all travellers consider.
“The security factor is of paramount importance, and for this, as I told you, we have taken all the measures and have used all the weapons against the pandemic,” the Deputy Minister for Tourism says.
“We are very pleased that our country won the distinction for the safest start of the 2020 tourist season by the World Travel and Tourism Organisation.
“Of course there is no room for complacency and we remain on guard against the virus and its mutations. Past experience has taught us that this virus should never be underestimated.
“As ready as we are to welcome tourists, it is expected that in some countries there is increased caution, which has to do with the assessment of their own health situation, but also the mutations of the virus, such as ‘Delta’.”
In Greece, tourism plays an important role in the Greek economy. It was almost 1/4 of GDP before the pandemic. The question is what the Ministry of Tourism will now do to contribute to development.
“Indeed the Greek economy has an increased degree of dependence on tourism. Now the top priority is recovery from the blow of the pandemic. But we also look ahead, to capitalise on the many opportunities of the post-Covid era. We are opening up to new markets, building strong alliances with our international partners, enhancing the visibility of our destinations, as well as the green and digital dimension of Greek tourism,” she explains to The Greek Herald.
“The EOT campaign “All you want is Greece” this year started earlier than ever and will last longer than ever. With advertising campaigns abroad, we proceed methodically to expand markets and extend the tourist season!
“In addition to these, however, the key to the success of Greek tourism in the new era is the factor of special forms of tourism and the emphasis on the many and different experiences of our guests in Greece.
“That is why we are taking advantage of the great opportunity of the Recovery Fund, the largest support fund of European economies created to deal with the consequences of the pandemic. Greece was one of the first countries to submit its proposal with the program “Greece 2.0” and is one of the first countries to receive approval for the program from the European Union.
“We proposed and approved infrastructure projects for targeted specific forms of tourism, such as gastronomic, agritourism, mountain, diving, climbing, wellness. In fact, alternative forms of tourism are not only pillars of sustainable development, but also bases for the lengthening of the tourist season.”
One of the timeless themes of Greece in the tourism sector has to do with services. Tourism education is Mrs Zacharaki’s area of responsibility and we asked her to inform us what the Ministry is planning.
“Our belief is that the foundation of Tourism Development is tourism education and training. Through this, the new generation of Greek tourism is being prepared, and acquires the resources to respond to new developments,” she says.
“That is why we pay special attention, both to the reform of tourist education structures, as well as to the retraining and upgrading of skills (reskilling & upskilling), with programs for 20,000 tourism workers and unemployed, for which we have also submitted proposals for funding from the Recovery Fund.
“Note that it is the first time that such a broad program of retraining and upgrading of skills in tourism will be carried out in our country… At the same time, we are working out a plan for the operation of a foreign language tourism school in Greece.”
Australia, the community and the wish of good reparation:
Borders remain closed in Australia, where lockdowns now take endemic form. With more than 330,000 travellers arriving from Australia to Greece in 2019 we asked the Deputy Minister of Tourism if they are planning for a proposal to create a safe travel bubble between the two countries.
“Australia has indeed opted for a restrictive policy on travel to all foreign countries, with the exception of its neighbour New Zealand. Each country naturally has the self-evident right to take whatever health protection measures it deems necessary, depending on its epidemiological situation,” Mrs Zacharaki says.
“As far as we are concerned, it is our constant priority to inform all countries – and especially countries of direct tourist interest – in a timely and valid manner about all the elements of the epidemiological situation in Greece, which show a steady improvement in every aspect.
“We are convinced that when Australia decides to open travel for the rest of the world, Greece should, by reasonable necessity, be part of that opening.
“Greece and Australia are also countries with strong and vibrant ties, thanks to the dynamic presence of the Greek diaspora. And our country is completely safe, and it has long been arranged to open for potential travelers from Australia, with the general conditions of entry.
“We understand that each country makes decisions for the protection of its citizens and we continue our self-evident work of communicating everywhere in the world the work done for vaccination and the safe conditions restarting tourism in Greece.”
Mrs Zaharaki also sends a message to our community through The Greek Herald.
“I know very well that for the Greeks of the diaspora the trip to our country is not just another holiday trip, but a return to the ancestral home, in our common “Ithaca”,” she says.
“And the more the kilometers of the distance, the greater the “nostos,” the irresistible desire to return to the motherland – for those who were lucky enough to be born here or even visit the Greek land – but also the desire to get to learn more about it, for those who have never come.
“I chat very often with Greek women and Greeks from Australia through social networks and follow what is happening in the Greek community with great interest for years.
“I see firsthand the deep desire and impatience to be given the green light that will allow many to travel to Greece.
“The message I want to give you is clear: Greece is safe and awaits you all, as soon as Australia allows it, to enjoy our unparalleled summer and the wonderful seasons of colours, smells and authentic experiences in Greece, but above all, to live the unique experience of reconnecting with our place, our roots, our identity.
“And then, the bitterness of these years of forced deprivation of return, will multiply the joy of reunion, with our ancestral land.
“Until then, the Greek government and all citizens, we continue the great national effort so you can return to a country that improves its infrastructure, such as the 14 upgraded regional airports that were commissioned this year, resolutely advances investments such as at “Elliniko,” positively stars in European and international developments, makes digital advancements, aims for a green and sustainable development, implements social policies for all citizens without leaving anyone behind, without discrimination and exclusion.
“In a country that does not forget expatriate Greeks. As a relative of expatriate Evrytans in America I know well what unquenchable love for the country means, impatience for the return and desire to see Greece excel.”
At just 26 years of age, Olivia Maddison Boyages is kicking goals as a lawyer at private Sydney firm, Colin Biggers & Paisley. It comes as no surprise then that she was recently named finalist in the ‘Rising Star of the Year (Private Practice)’ category of the Australian Law Awards 2021.
To celebrate the exciting news, The Greek Herald reached out to Olivia to find out more about her career trajectory and of course, to ask her how it feels to be recognised in the prestigious awards.
1. Congratulations on being named a finalist in the Australian Law Awards in the category ‘Rising Star of the Year (Private Practice).’ How does it feel to be recognised?
I’m honoured to have been recognised as a finalist in the Rising Star category for Private Practice. Ultimately, I feel this nomination is a product of the support I have received from my managers, mentors, peers and clients in my first few years of practice and the opportunities to work collaboratively on interesting and challenging work.
I am also deeply grateful to my supervising partner and my firm for their ongoing encouragement, allowing me not only to gain valuable practical experience but also to devote a great deal of my time to pro bono legal work and to pursue studies outside of work.
2. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am the daughter of a first generation migrant, Stella Boyages, born on the island of Chios. She migrated to Australia at the age of four, with her parents who were originally from Paros and the Peloponnese. My father, Steven Boyages, was born in Australia to parents who had migrated from Castellorizo and Rhodes.
My Greek heritage has always been such a strong and important part of my identity. I spent the first seven years of my schooling at St Spyridon College, where I was immersed in Greek language, culture and customs. In high school, I continued my Greek studies through the Saturday School of Community Languages through to Year 12.
I strongly feel it was my early studies of Greek that inspired my love of languages. I studied a combined Arts/Law degree at the University of New South Wales, with an Arts major in French and a minor in Spanish.
3. What inspired you to get into the legal profession?
My mother was an early inspiration for pursuing a Law degree not only through her work as a criminal lawyer for the Aboriginal Legal Service, but also her strong sense of social justice, equity and community. These values were imparted to me and I felt that a career in the law would allow me to advocate for access to justice, and provide legal assistance to vulnerable members of the community.
Originally I thought this would best be achieved through practice of criminal law, but this area of law proved less interesting to me than anticipated. I have come to realise these values can be taken to any legal job no matter the field of law – and perhaps even to any job, legal or otherwise.
In my current role, I provide legal assistance on a pro bono basis to young and vulnerable, female clients through various projects run by the firm, alongside my day to day work. I find it incredibly rewarding.
4. Tell us a little bit about your law career.
Whilst I was completing my studies, I worked as a legal assistant and paralegal on a part time basis. These jobs gave me an insight into the day to day operations of a law firm and provided a level of familiarity with the profession. At the same time, I worked as a medical receptionist on Saturdays. Whilst this job wasn’t legally related, it provided other transferrable skills that I was able to take with me when I finished my studies. I didn’t do an internship or a clerkship whilst I was at university, but began working as a graduate at Colin Biggers & Paisley Lawyers in 2018 after concluding my studies. I was admitted as a solicitor in October 2018.
Olivia with her mum, Stella, at her admission ceremony in 2018.
5. Does your Greek heritage influence your work in any way?
At this stage in my life, my Greek culture and heritage doesn’t play a large role in my career. However, the influence of my early exposure to Greek language and culture, through my family and schooling, can be seen through my pursuits beyond the office.
I continue to study languages outside of work, and continue to dance with the Aristotelion Academy of Greek Dancing. I recently completed a Diploma of Languages through Macquarie University (remotely and part time), and am currently doing Honours studies on a part-time basis through the University of Sydney.
I have grown comfortable with the reality that there will be significant passions and interests in my life and aspects of my background which won’t necessarily overlap with my career, at least for now.
6. What do you enjoy the most about your work? What are your future plans?
I work in a litigation practice and enjoy the varied, intellectually challenging and fast paced nature of the work. I am also very lucky to work with an incredibly supportive, inspiring and capable team who facilitate and encourage the involvement and professional development of junior lawyers. This culture and professional environment makes work all the more enjoyable.
I have little plans beyond finishing my Honours studies in the next year and half. After that, we will have to see.
7. Is there anything else you’d like to say?
I would just like to acknowledge that whilst I am the daughter of Greek-Australian first and second generation migrants, I recognise that I also benefit from a certain privilege on this land, to which sovereignty was never ceded by our First Nations people. Just as I am passionate about my Greek culture and background, I would like to recognise that this week is NAIDOC week, which focuses on celebrating the richness and diversity of First Nations people, their cultures and stories.
Olivia is also joined in the awards by Greek Australians: Calli Tsipidis, finalist for In-House Lawyer of the Year and Rising Star of the Year; Theo Kapodistrias, finalist for General Counsel of the Year; Elise Christou and Elleni Criticos, finalists for Law Student of the Year; George Bazouni, finalist for Managing Partner of the Year; and Peter Katsoolis, finalist for Sole Practitioner of the Year. The awards ceremony is set to be held on August 20.
The NSW Health Minister, Brad Hazzard, and NSW Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, spoke to multicultural communities today about the current state lockdown, the vaccination rollout and how the government can better tailor its COVID-19 messaging.
Dr Chant opened up the digital meeting by firstly thanking multicultural communities across the state for adhering to the current lockdown restrictions, but stressed that more needed to be done to stop people from visiting family and different households.
“We have a number of cases where people are visiting family and not understanding the need to stay away unless absolutely necessary,” Dr Chant stressed.
“For the lockdown to have an effect, we need multicultural communities to be with us on the journey… and we need people to stop mingling.”
Dr Chant went on to say that vaccinations are another line of defence in the state’s emergence from lockdown and described how some general practitioners are now able to give the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines to the elderly. Mobile vaccination units are also available.
The NSW Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, and NSW Health Minister, Brad Hazzard. Photo: The Greek Herald.
“We need to get the community vaccinated… and we need strong compliance to stop the virus from being transmitted,” Dr Chant said.
Getting the message across:
To stress this message more effectively to multicultural communities, the NSW Chief Health Officer explained that now is the time to “re-engage” and tailor COVID-19 information through government departments such as Multicultural NSW.
An attendee from the media then asked why they weren’t getting enough of this information in the first place to pass on to their audiences.
The NSW Health Minister answered and said that if departments such as Multicultural NSW weren’t getting COVID-19 messages across effectively, “we will contact them and make sure they’re doing it better.”
Mr Hazzard then went on to ask everyone in attendance what specific messages they believed would resonate with multicultural communities and “how best we can do that.”
Vaccinations and the recent state lockdown was discussed online.
A number of responses filtered through including reaching out to multicultural newspapers, radio stations and community groups, creating social videos for the elderly, giving local police a bigger role and even reaching out to political and religious leaders in the community.
‘Effective communication is vital’:
In response, the Shadow Minister for Multiculturalism, Small Business and Property, Steve Kamper MP, issued a statement this afternoon stating that “the NSW Government has rallied to play catch up in communicating COVID health and safety information in languages other than English, and in particular to South Western Sydney residents.”
“COVID safety resources have been prepared in many languages, but they have not been communicated through to the people who need them,” Mr Kamper said.
“Older people who don’t have good English and may not be skilled at using the Internet have been finding it particularly difficult to get information they can understand.”
The Shadow Minister goes on to say, however, that it is still good to see the NSW Government taking the time today to talk with multicultural communities.
“It is good to see that the Government are finally taking urgent steps today to enlist the multicultural newspapers, radio stations and community groups, as well as asking younger members of our multicultural communities to share information across their social media networks,” he said.
“This is a difficult time and effective communication with all our community groups is vital to managing this highly infectious COVID-19 Delta-variant outbreak.”
In December 2013, Foutoula Maitianos was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) – a condition of the central nervous system that affects mobility and can cause fatigue and memory loss.
Almost seven years later in 2020, the South Australian mum-of-two saw her condition deteriorate significantly to the point where she relied on a walking frame or wheelchair.
“My walking deteriorated, I started getting headaches, fatigue, it was becoming a struggle,” Ms Maitianos told ABC News.
Ms Maitianos knew the goal for people living with MS was to stop symptoms from getting worse, but none of her treatments were doing that.
“I was worried because I was on a few different treatments and I was still deteriorating,” she says, explaining she spent 18 months on intravenous drug Ocrevus (Ocrelizumab).
AHSCT is a procedure that involves harvesting stem cells from patients, giving them doses of chemotherapy, then replacing the stem cells in the patient’s body. The aim is to ‘reset’ the immune system to stop it attacking the body.
According to MS Research Australia, the nation’s leading non-profit organisation for MS research and advocacy, AHSCT carries a higher risk than most currently approved therapies.
“We know that AHSCT can have some significant effects on the body such as a high risk of severe infections, effects on fertility, and an increased risk of cancers,” the organisation said in a statement to ABC News.
It said while there had been no deaths among about 50 people who have received AHSCT in Australia in the past eight years, the average mortality rate from international studies is 1.3 per cent.
Despite this, Ms Maitianos felt like AHSCT was still her best option.
Ms Maitianos and her husband, Peter, travelled to Mexico for treatment. Photo: ABC News / Fotoula Maitianos.
The only problem was that the treatment was only available in Australia through three observational clinical trials at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital and in Melbourne at Austin Health and The Alfred Hospital.
Ms Maitianos’ doctors warned she may not be eligible but as the treatment was available in several countries overseas, she decided to head to Mexico despite the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was scary, very scary, but I knew I had to do it, I didn’t care what was going on,” she told ABC News.
On a mission to Mexico:
Ms Maitianos and her husband, Peter, left for Mexico in October 2020, making provisions for their children while they were away for six weeks.
They were supported by friends, family and the wider community in fundraising to cover the costs of the trip and medical treatment. They also had to get an exemption to be able to leave Australia in the first place.
Ms Maitianos receiving the AHSCT treatment in Mexico. Photo: ABC News / Fotoula Maitianos.
“It was crazy because my family and friends were saying ‘Are you sure you want to go?’ because we knew there were a lot more cases [of COVID-19] than in Australia,” Ms Maitianos says.
But still, she has no regrets as once she reached the Mexican treatment facility, she was able to not only receive AHSCT, but also connect with fellow MS patients from across the world.
“There were 14 to 15 of us and because of COVID we all had to stay in, we couldn’t leave the facility, we got along so well… It was great to have the support,” Ms Maitianos told ABC News.
After returning to Australia, Ms Maitianos quarantined in Sydney for two weeks before isolating herself at home for several months due to her low immune system.
And while it is too soon to know whether the treatment has worked, Ms Maitianos feels it was the right choice for her.
“My hope is that it just stops in its tracks where it’s at, that’s the whole point of this treatment,” she says. “For now I’m very hopeful. It is a rollercoaster the first few years after treatment.”
