TORONTO -- A woman whose immune system is attacking her body's cells -- one of only about 30 people in Ontario with the condition. A mother who took her children to the United States so they could regain some mobility lost due to their rare connective tissue disorder. A man whose rare condition went undiagnosed for 32 years until he took research into his own hands.

Those three people came to the Ontario legislature Monday as representatives of the recent wave of rare disease sufferers who had pleaded with the government for help, and who are now looking for a comprehensive strategy.

Michael Harris, a Progressive Conservative MPP, said a new group of people with rare diseases could easily show up at the legislature every week, or maybe even every day.

"(Their concerns) are all different, whether it be out-of-province coverage, a pharmaceutical, a proper diagnosis," he said.

The government will typically respond to the concerns with measures that could include a review or funding for a new drug, Harris said. But he's now calling for an all-party committee to form a comprehensive strategy rather than a "piecemeal approach."

Jennifer Hamilton is one of about 30 people in Ontario with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, or aHUS, a life-threatening condition in which the immune system attacks the body's cells, damaging blood vessels.

Ontario recently started providing interim funding for Soliris, a drug estimated to cost between $500,000 and $700,000 annually per patient, but Hamilton said she doesn't qualify.

Health Minister Eric Hoskins said of about 23 applications for Soliris funding, the province has approved 10 and is reviewing another three.

He applauded Harris for his advocacy on behalf of rare disease sufferers, but wouldn't say yet if the Liberal government will support the motion. Hoskins noted that Ontario is already co-chairing a national committee looking at the same subject, which will report to the health ministers' meeting in January.

It's important for all parties to be involved in a strategy, he said, singling out Alexion, the maker of Soliris.

"The patented medicine prices review board has made a ruling and determined that in their view Alexion; the prices that they're charging in Canada are appreciably higher than in other jurisdictions, including the United States, and Alexion's response has been to sue the federal government," Hoskins said.

The company challenged the federal board's authority to order a reduction to prices, saying that it intrudes upon provincial jurisdiction and that the price of Soliris has not increased since being introduced to Canada in 2009, nor decreased in other countries.

Chantelle Willson, a nurse and mother of four from Brantford, Ont., said her husband and two of her children have been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a hereditary connective tissue disorder.

"To hear your five-year-old describe it as a burning pain on his hands that feel like knives are slicing him, slicing him across his forehead, down his tummy and down his legs -- you feel powerless and you don't know how to help," she said. "It's absolutely heart-wrenching."

Ian Stedman has Muckle-Wells Syndrome, characterized by full-body rashes, fevers and joint pain, and said he had made 176 visits to the doctor before he was 18. He didn't get a proper diagnosis until the age of 32, when he noticed his daughter experiencing similar symptoms and started researching conditions on his own, he said.

Stedman said he and his three-year-old daughter are some of the lucky rare disease sufferers because there is treatment available for them, but he hopes Harris's proposed committee could find a way to help more people get proper diagnoses.

Harris' motion will be debated on Feb. 25.