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Stem Cell Treatment Cures Sickle Cell Anemia Patient!
Posted 23 June, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! |
A little more than a month ago, I wrote about Dr. Bertram Lubin’s successful stem cell treatments of sickle cell anemia in Oakland . Here is one of his success stories. This story is unique because 99% of the time, the patient has to leave the United States and go abroad to receive repair (adult) stem cell therapy (something I am desperately trying to change!), but in this case, the patient and his family moved to the United States seeking (and finding) a successful repair stem cell treatment for his sickle cell anemia:
Edna Chang-Vega and her husband left behind good jobs, a comfortable home and extended family in Panama in the hope of obtaining better treatment for Isaac, who suffered from debilitating sickle cell anemia. Worried about Isaac’s bouts with pneumonia and frequent hospitalizations, the family moved in with a cousin in Antioch. They figured someone in the United States could help ease Isaac’s symptoms
“Everybody knows that the United States is a big, big country and they are very advanced in medicine,” Chang-Vega said.
Their sacrifice would succeed beyond anything they could have imagined.
Isaac’s story highlights the international draw of Children’s Hospital Oakland. It also shows what Dr. Bertram Lubin, president of the hospital’s research institute, hopes to accomplish through its new “global health initiative.”
“What we do here really has impact throughout the world,” Lubin said. “We’re one of a few programs in the United States that’s demonstrated that you can cure children with sickle cell anemia with either a bone-marrow or cord-blood transplantation.”