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META
Repair Stem Cell Scientific Advisory Board Member in the News!
Posted 24 July, 2008 in DON MARGOLIS | No comments
Repair Stem Cell SAB Member Zannos Grekos is in the news again! — Dr. Grekos was a featured speaker at the 16th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine & Regenerative Biomedical Technologies at the Gaylord National Resort in Washington, DC, on Friday, July 18. And what did he have to say? Let’s take a look:
“I’ve seen patients go from an ejection fraction of 28 percent to 49 percent in six months with the stem cell therapy,” he told the captive audience. (An ejection fraction of 50 is normal.) “Injecting a patient’s own stem cells into damaged tissue is replacing damaged cells with normal functioning cells.
The group was particularly fascinated with the center’s research proving that adult stem cells have the ability to engraft themselves into areas damaged by myocardial infarction (heart attacks) and turn into new heart cells and new blood vessels.
Dr. Grekos responded to the forum by stating, “Three months after treatment, cardiac nuclear scans of the areas treated reveal reversal of damage. In some cases, it’s virtually impossible to identify the problems that existed before therapy. We have shown such improvement in some patients that they were taken off the heart transplant list.”
This is good news. More proof that adult (repair) stem cells do work! For more on Dr. Grekos and his stem cell treatments- click here
For the full article- click here
Adult Stem Cells May Act As Spinal Cord Nerve Repair System!
Posted 23 July, 2008 in THE LATEST ASC SCIENCE | No comments
This probably isn’t news to our Dr. Carlos Lima, but it may be good news for spinal cord injury victims coming across this blog or website for the first time. - MIT researchers along with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm have found that spinal cord stem cells that are grown/multiplied in a lab and then reintroduced into the injury site can restore some physical function in paralyzed rodents and primates.
More:
“We have been able to genetically mark this neural stem cell population and then follow their behavior. We find that these cells proliferate upon spinal cord injury, migrate toward the injury site and differentiate over several months,” study author Konstantinos Meletis said in an MIT news release.
This isn’t too surprising to me as it seems they have proven (or on the way to proving) that adult stem cells do their job of repairing when introduced into an injury site in a large amount.
For more on stem cells for spinal cord injuries- click here
For the full article mentioned above- click here
People Are Dying- You Can Save Them
Posted 22 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
Yesterday, I presented the miraculous story of Chris LoDuca- a man no longer suffering from cancer thanks to a bone marrow stem cell transplant from an anonymous donor at the time. (See yesterday’s story below- they met for the first time recently).
Today, I present a letter from a woman who was also saved in a similar fashion. Tiffany Hooper wrote this letter to the editor of her local newspaper. Read it and think about what you can do to help:
Dear Editor,
I am a wife, stepmom, daughter, sister, and I am a 2-time survivor of acute leukemia.
I was diagnosed in 2002 and after chemotherapy and nearly five years in remission relapsed last October. Without a bone marrow transplant I believe there was no hope for my long-term survival. I think about what those words mean, would have meant, to my family…”no hope.”
Like over 70% of patients in need of bone marrow or stem cells I had no donor match within my family. I needed the gift of an unrelated donor. And, in January in intensive care, “hope” was delivered.
I can thank the doctors, nurses, and the other staff of the transplant team, but I can never truly thank the biggest hero, my anonymous marrow donor, who somewhere in the world made the choice to join a donor registry.
In a small attempt to “pay it forward” I’d like to urge, better yet beg, your readers to visit www.onematch.ca or call 1 888 2 DONATE for information on joining the registry and becoming a potential donor. If people would like to ask me questions about my experience to help in making a decision they can email me at tjhrh@sympatico.ca.
What if you knew you were a match, right now, for someone whose life is being stolen by cancer or another marrow disease, and your donation could save them? If it were your spouse, your child, or your parent, what WOULDN’T you do?
Sincerely,
Tiffany Hopper
Petawawa, Ontario
Canadian Man Meets His “Hero” Who Saved His Life With Stem Cells!
Posted 21 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
I can never get too many of these stories. Every time I read them, the
tears want to start flowing. Cancer patient (chronic myelogenous
leukemia) Chris LoDuca, was dying and in desperate need of a stem cell
transplant. He had been waiting for a possible donor for more than 1
year. Lots of cancer victims pass away waiting for a matching donor,
but Chris was lucky. Around the world, there was a matching donor in
Germany - Manuel Raisch. Manuel generously donated his stem cells to
a man he had never met. These repair stem cells would save Chris’
life. And now, more than 3 years later, they met for the very first time. Chris and his wife were overwhelmed by the moment:
With the co-operation of LoDuca’s wife Pam, it(the first meeting of Chris and Manuel) was kept a surprise until the annual Camp 4 Compassion on a farm near Leamington that promotes awareness of the worldwide blood and bone marrow donation registry.
LoDuca was told he had to be there for a belated 40th birthday party.
Instead, he came face-to-face with Manuel Raisch, a tall, bearded 27-year-old theology student from Wiesenbach who spoke little English.
“I was in complete shock,” said LoDuca. “I was overwhelmed.”
“Sitting next to me is a real hero,” he said.
How many ways can you say thank-you? LoDuca can tell you all about that now.
The tears quietly streaming down his wife’s face perhaps said it best.
Click here for the whole thing Sorry, - link was removed. Click here for the same story, but edited differently
Adult Stem Cell Therapy Success Stories!
Posted 16 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
I am taking a few days off from blogging (I will be back Monday), but since I won’t be updating this site, I wanted to leave you something special to read while I am away.
The Family Research Council has compiled a list of adult stem cell treatment success stories from January 2008 until June 2008. You may recognize some of the names on the list because I have featured many of them on this blog. However, the Family Research Council deserves a round of applause for putting all of the stem cell treatment victories all together in an easy to read form:
We are pleased to present FRC’s June update on advances in human treatments and research with adult stem cells. This is the third report. The prior ones were “Adult Stem Cell Success Stories - 2006″[2] and “Adult Stem Cell Success Stories-2007 Update”.[3] Every six months, we will present new cases of people being helped by adult stem cells, which are abundant throughout the human body and whose use does not pose the ethical dilemmas encountered with embryonic stem cell research. Adult stem cells are already being used to treat over 73 different conditions and are the subject of over 1400 FDA approved trials. We invite you to read about real people being helped by adult stem cell research.
Another Successful Stem Cell Therapy for Heart Disease Story!
Posted 16 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
This is another good story that shows if you have had a heart attack or have some form of heart disease- congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, etc. - you aren’t necessarily condemned to a life of shortness of breath, low energy, and watching your fluid intake. Stem cell treatment (your own stem cells) CAN help your heart:
“I woke up at 11:30 to a heart attack and I just tried to dismiss it.”
But David Varino couldn’t. He later had triple bypass surgery, a number of stints, a pacemaker and defibulator put into the heart that doctors described as trash.
Then in May, David was told about experimental research being done in Covington, where his own stem cells would be used to hopefully repair his heart.
“I was very skeptial,” Varino explains. “You say stem cells and people immediately put up a red flag. I did too. I told my family no. Then i was told it was going to be my own.”
David soon became known as “Number Six”. Doctors used his bone marrow and withdrew 15 hundred stem cells. Those were cultivated those into 15 million and then deposited them into David’s arteries.
“I was thinking, ‘If it can only buy me a month’”.
And now two months later, “Number Six’s” children confirm, their father is breathing better, can now walk across the room and is everyday getting closer to his normal life.
“It’s done something wonderous, I’ll tell you that cause before I could not do anything. I don’t know how long it will last. Hopefully a long time. Right now, I feel good; I feel really good. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is how they will treat major illnesses in the future.”
Yes, David, there is no doubt in my mind either. However, my goal is to make the “future” sooner rather than later so thousands of others just like you can have the same second chance that you did! These are your own stem cells we are talking about- no side effects and no moral issues.
Stem Cell Transplant Saves A Life of Cancer Patient!
Posted 15 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
Yet another success story that says cancer (multiple myeloma) isn’t necessarily a death sentence due to repair stem cell treatment. In this case, the stem cells came to the rescue in the form of a bone marrow (stem cell) transplant from the cancer patient’s sister:
The ties holding the Geprey family together remain strong — now two of the nine siblings are truly blood relatives.
Luann Magolan, of Oregon Township, gave her sister Chris Gepfrey Dahlke, 14 million cells to save her life from a rare form of cancer. Multiple myeloma affects the plasma cells in the bone marrow and is destroying her bones.
“It was determined that she needed a stem cell transplant,” Magolan said. “Blood stem cells are produced in your bone marrow. The cancer took over those stem cells and they broke apart. The marrow can’t produce and you get weak bones.”
As she heals, Chris and her husband Craig live in Ann Arbor to be near the hospital. With the cells of her sister inside her, Chris grows stronger each day. (YES!!!- DM)
This is the reason why I keep urging my readers (yes you!) to register as a bone marrow transplant donor. You could save a life of someone you love or more likely someone you don’t know. Imagine the feeling of saving someone’s life. Go to www.bonemarrow.org and find out how you can register.
Baby to be First Canadian Treated for Optic Nerve Hypoplasia!
Posted 14 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
As many of you who follow this blog know, we have shared multiple success stories (here, here, and here) of stem cell treatments in China that successfully treat Optic Nerve Hypoplasia.
Optic Nerve Hypoplasia occurs in children when the optic nerve fails to develop leaving the children blind for their entire lives. There is no conventional cure for this disease. Nothing could be done for it, until now- repair stem cell therapy.
A young couple from Canada with a 6 month old baby boy suffering from this disease is planning to go to China for a stem cell treatment that can (and based on other successful cases, probably will) help the boy see for the first time:
Jakob Bielskis came into the world six months ago. But he’s never actually seen it. And, without a special and costly eye treatment, he never will.
“He can’t see a thing, but he’s a very happy baby and it doesn’t even seem to phase him that he’s blind,” said Richard Bielskis, Jakob’s father and a former Barrie resident. “We’re the ones suffering with his condition, because he doesn’t even know what he’s missing.”
The six-month-old Calgary baby was born with a rare disorder that has left him blind.
His only hope of seeing the world is a very new treatment that uses umbilical stem cells to regenerate the optic nerve. The treatment has been developed in China, but is only offered there by a company called Beike Biotech.
“He’s helping to pave the road for others needing this treatment in Canada,” she added. “He’ll be the first Canadian baby to receive this eye treatment.”
Stem Cell Therapy Helps Bubble Boy Out of ICU!
Posted 11 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
Many of you may have seen this on TV already, but no reason not to see it again- it is a fantastic story!
Granton Bayless is a 9 month old boy who suffers from severe combined immunodeficiency, which means his immune system is unable to fight off any disease, even a simple cold. Therefore, he must live in a protective bubble that protects him from any viruses and bacteria, thus the name “bubble boy.”
Recently, Granton received a repair stem cell transplant from donated umbilical cord blood and look at what happened:
Instead, a recent umbilical-cord-blood transplant at Children’s Mercy Hospital has transformed Granton Bayless from a frail, nearly immobile patient into a bubbly baby who wiggles when he sees his masked and gloved parents enter his sterile hospital room.
Granton received his transplant on June 10. Daniel Bayless said that because of the donor program’s confidentiality guidelines, all he and his wife, Jenni, would ever know of the donation was that it came from a boy born in 2000 and was stored in St. Louis.
So far, Granton is improving, his parents said. A recent blood test on him showed that 86 percent of his white cells were donor cells. A recent test showed Granton had produced “natural killer cells,” which play a major role in fighting infections.
These are key milestones in a transplant because they indicate that the donor cells are starting to produce other cells, said John Miller, medical director of donor medical services for the National Marrow Donor Program.
His improvement thrills the family, friends and strangers who have rallied around Granton and who follow his medical saga through daily blog updates posted by his parents.
Stem Cell Treatment for Friedreich’s Ataxia!
Posted 10 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
Today, I am presenting two separate Friedreich’s Ataxia patients. Both are on their way to China to receive stem cell treatment, the only place in the world that offers such a treatment for this disease.
First, we have Josh Wallace, a Friedreich’s Ataxia patient who has already received stem cell therapy in China for his condition and now is aiming to go back for a second helping:
“I was diagnosed when I was 17, but I began showing signs in my early teen years,” Wallace said about his condition. “The doctor said it was a muscular disease that wasn’t going to get any better without a medical breakthrough.”
Wallace found that possible medical breakthrough in China. In 2006, Wallace traveled to China where he stayed for six weeks and received six stem cell injections, two IV stem cell infusions and two spinal punches. He was the first person with his condition to receive the treatments.
“It improved it,” Wallace said about the injections. “Not by a great amount, but it definitely improved it more than anything else I ever had. So I’m going back over there.
I also present to you Zach Ghazali, an aspiring boxer, who is on his way to China for the first time, also to treat his Friedreich’s Ataxia with repair stem cell treatment:
Aspiring boxer Zack Ghazali will travel halfway around the world beginning Thursday as he seeks medical treatment to save his life.
“They say don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” said Bernadine Ghazali, Zack’s mom. “We only have one egg. We have to do something.”
They are going to Hangzhou Hospital in China to receive stem cell therapy offered by Beike Biotech, which is one of 32 laboratories worldwide offering stem cell transplants. The procedure is not done in Canada or the U.S (Hey, let’s change this people, why does this man have to go to China for stem cell treatment?-DM).
Good luck to both of you brave gentlemen! You have chosen the right path with repair stem cells.