Are you or a loved one interested in receiving stem cell treatment? For free treatment information, please fill out our treatment form or email me don@repairstemcells.org and just put TREATMENT in the subject box.

Before I get into this post on how a stem cell transplant helped a young girl with Neuroblastoma- I would like to say congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers on their victory in the Super Bowl. I would have liked to see old Kurt Warner lead his Cardinals to a win, he gives inspiration to old fogies like myself. However, it was a great game and both teams have reasons to be proud.

Emily Smith, 8, a young girl from Nacogdoches, Texas, had her Super Bowl victory about 6 years ago. At the age of 17 months, Emily was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a cancer that begins in the nervous system.

Emily had a 9 pound tumor that was wrapped around her heart. Her prognosis wasn't good. She was terminal. Chemotherapy was tried- it didn't work.

Doctors decided the only way Emily could survive was a bone marrow transplant with stem cells taken from her own bone marrow.

The procedure would replace Mary's defective and damaged blood cells with her own clean stem cells that had been previously extracted from her own bone marrow. Stem cells are immature cells found in bone marrow that develop into red and white blood cells and platelets.

Emily had more than 250,000 cells extracted, which were then transported to Children's Medical Center in Los Angeles, where they were cleansed of cancer and purged of all diseases.

Just prior to her transplant, Emily was given an aggressive amount of chemotherapy, and placed into a chemically-induced coma, according to her mother.

"She was in a coma when they inseminated her with the stem cells, and she woke up the day before her second birthday," Mary said.

Five days later her stem cells began to graft, and she was on the road to recovery.

She spent the next five weeks in the hospital following her transplant, and then moved with her mother to the Ronald McDonald House for three months.

Emily does have some complication due to the chemo but:


But to the uneducated eye, Emily appears like any other 8-year-old girl, fascinated by puppies and Hello Kitty, and bursting with energy.

Very touching story.  If you look closely, Emily was treated in a similar fashion to those Multiple Sclerosis patients at Northwestern University-- do you see a trend here?


Read the whole story on stem cells saving Emily here

Are you or a loved one interested in receiving stem cell treatment? For free treatment information, please fill out our treatment form or email me don@repairstemcells.org and just put TREATMENT in the subject box.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-cadenfolo_12met.ART0.State.Edition1.4504629.html

After receiving unusual stem cell transplant, Coppell toddler comes home from hospital

...Doctors released the 2-year-old from Medical City Dallas Hospital, where he spent nearly two months in treatment for neuroblastoma, which is a fast-growing cancer of the nervous system.

The centerpiece of Caden's care was an unusual transplant, in which stem cells taken from his own umbilical cord at birth were pumped back into his body Dec. 28...

A NEW VICTORY: USING ASC TO TREAT CANCER IS VERY OLD NEWS, BUT USING ASC DERIVED FROM UMBILICAL CORDS IN THE USA IS A BIG STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.  OF COURSE, THE USA, BEING THE BANGLADESH OF STEM CELLS, IS WAY BEHIND CHINA IN USING CORD BLOOD TO TREAT "INCURABLE" DISEASES.  (NOTHING IN THE ARTICLE ABOUT FDA APPROVING THIS NEW THERAPY)  MOST IMPORTANT, HOWEVER, IS THIS QUOTE.

- DM

Dr. Joel Weinthal, a Texas Oncology physician who is treating Caden, says it's the boy's best shot against a deadly disease that comes back about half the time.  "We're not talking about his being cured of his neuroblastoma right now," said Dr. Weinthal. "It's certainly a very positive thing that he gets to go home from the hospital, but he has a long road ahead of him."

THAT QUOTE IS 100% SPOT-ON.  SO I AM PRAYING FOR CADEN (AND OTHERS TO FOLLOW) TO STAY WELL, THOUGH I SUSPECT HE WILL NEED MORE CELLS IN THE FUTUR.

-DM