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META
Adult Stem Cell Treatment Effective For Hodgkin’s Lymphoma!
Posted 31 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
This is great news for Hodgkin’s sufferers. A trial has been published in the Annals of Oncology that shows adult stem cell treatment is an effective way to treat Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Researchers from the Royal Marsden Hospital recently reported long-term data including 195 patients with recurrent Hodgkin’s lymphoma who received an autologous stem cell transplant between 1985 and 2005.
- 61% of patients achieved a complete disappearance of cancer.
- Median survival was nine years.
- Median progression-free survival was three years.
- Five- and 10-year overall survivals were 55% and 49%, respectively.
- 10% of patients developed a second cancer, the most of which were acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndromes.
- Mortality caused by treatment occurred in 6% of patients.
The researchers concluded that an autologous stem cell transplant provides an effective long-term therapeutic option for patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma that has stopped responding to prior therapies. Patients with recurrent Hodgkin’s lymphoma may wish to speak with their physician about their individual risks and benefits of an autologous stem cell transplant.
If you or someone you know has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, you may wish to contact Dr. Shimon Slavin in Israel as he may have a stem cell treatment for you. Dr. Slavin’s email address is slavinmd@gmail.com
Or you can click here to read more about the successful trial for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
2nd Stem Cell Treatment for Paralyzed Teen
Posted 31 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
Many times I have featured repair stem cell recipients who have traveled from the United States to China for a successful stem cell treatment. And many times I have featured others who went to Costa Rica where they also received a successful stem cell treatment. Today, I am featuring a spinal cord injury patient who went to China last year for her stem cell therapy, and after some improvement from the stem cells in China, now wants more.
Therefore, she is planning to go to Costa Rica hoping for even more improvement. Here is how Kayla Spano’s first trip to China went:
A trip to China 15 months ago for stem cell treatment in hopes of reversing paralysis from a May 2006 car crash didn’t put Kayla Spano at her goal of walking again.
But it helped her regain some feeling and control of her lower abdomen, which along with intense physical therapy aided in strengthening her upper body — so much so that the 18-year-old no longer depends on her mother, Karen Burr, or others to get in and out of her wheelchair and wherever else she needs to go. (This is fantastic-DM)
Instead, Kayla was able in January to enroll in LSU-Shreveport to work toward a major in accounting, live in a campus apartment and get a vehicle with controls so she can drive where she wants to go.
“Before China, I couldn’t sit up without holding onto something. Now, I can reach out and lift things over my head, like my wheelchair, and put it in the car. If I didn’t have the improvements, I couldn’t do that. And there are other things I can do by myself.
“I need to be independent before I can walk “» because if I walked first that would be like taking the easy way out. I went to China to get these improvements and get independent, and now I have this opportunity to do more.”
But Kayla is not content to just sit. She is determined to give stem cell surgery another try. She still wants the chance to try to walk again.
To reach that goal, Kayla is planning a trip this year to San Jose, Costa Rica, where she’ll again undergo a series of stem cell implants. This time, however, there will be more treatments over a shorter period of time.
Go for it Kayla! We are all cheering for you!
Look Ma! I’m in the News Again
Posted 30 July, 2008 in DON MARGOLIS | No comments
For those of you new to this blog- I not only blog about adult (repair) stem cells, but I also have recently formed the Repair Stem Cell Institute, to promote the benefits of repair stem cells and help people with seemingly hopeless conditions/diseases find new hope with stem cell treatment. Today, I have released a list of stem cell treatment centers that already have helped thousands of patients get a better quality of life thanks to repair stem cells. Spinal cord injuries, emphysema, type 2 diabetes, multiple sclerosis are just a few conditions now treatable with repair stem cells and are included on the list. There are more than 100 other conditions also included on the list. The list includes direct contact information with the doctors/treatment centers:
Click here to see my list and descriptions (including condtions/diseases treated) of stem cell treatment centers.
Click here to see my press release about my stem cell organization
Stem Cell Treatment Helps Cerebral Palsy Patient!
Posted 29 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
I sometimes find stories involving cord blood stem cell transplants in which a patient uses a brother’s, sister’s or other family member’s cord blood. However, it is very rare to find an adult stem cell therapy story in which a patient (in this case a young baby) uses his/her own cord blood stem cells for treatment. Luckily for this baby, the parents had banked her stem cells taken from her umbilical cord at birth.
Chloe Levine is the star here. At the tender age of 9 months, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and if not for the help of adult stem cells, was destined for 17-18 years of therapy according to her neurologist. Read on:
That was when the Levines heard about an experimental procedure at Duke University in North Carolina where children with cerebral palsy were infused with their own cord blood stem cells in an effort to heal and repair damaged brain tissue.
The Levine’s remembered they had banked Chole’s cord blood when she was born.
“It was a miracle,” Alvarez said Monday on FOX & Friends. “I congratulate you for banking her cord blood. Stem cells are a new field of medicine and they certainly can rejuvenate the tissue.”
Two months ago, Chloe, 2, received an infusion of her own stem cells and her progress is remarkable, said her father, Ryan Levine.
“Her therapist said she’s made a 50 percent recovery,” he said. “She can walk, run, and do sign language with her right hand.”
“It’s a miracle,” agreed Jenny Levine. “To hear your baby’s voice is a gift.”
Alvarez said all parents expecting babies should consider cord blood banking.
“There is no downside, this is material we used to throw away,” he said. “And while the blood is most useful for the child it came from, it can sometimes be used for siblings. This is a science that is evolving more and more.”
And surprisingly enough, all of this took place in the United States (Duke University)- not China, Costa Rica etc. where we normally hear of such stem cell therapies.
South Africa Gets Into Stem Cell Transplant Act Too!
Posted 28 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
United States, Canada, Vietnam and now South Africa- all of these stem cell success stories really get me pumped! I really love to read stories about people like Rebecca:
Pretty little Rebecca Stringer has become the poster girl for the Sunflower Fund in KwaZulu-Natal.
For, while several local children have sadly died of leukemia, six-year-old Rebecca’s story is a success.
She, like the others, was in desperate need of a life-saving bone marrow transplant, but luckily for Rebecca of Hillcrest, she was able to find a stem cell donor.
But in July 2007, the doctor told the Stringers that their daughter had relapsed, and that the only way for her to be healed was to find a bone marrow stem cell donor and undergo an urgent transplant.
But the chances of finding a bone marrow stem cell donor match is 1:100 000 and the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) at present sits at some 63 000 donors.
The Stringers then mounted a campaign to get as many people as possible to sign up as donors-and amazingly, a suitable one was found very quickly. Many patients die while waiting for a donor. -
While I commonly post news stories about these stem cell transplants, please remember that these stories aren’t the norm. Unfortunately, many cancer patients die while trying to find a matching donor which is all the more reason for you to register at www.marrow.org.
Vietnam Performs First Successful Stem Cell Transplant!
Posted 25 July, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
Recently, we have highlighted some successful stem cell treatments in Canada and United States dealing with leukemia patients. Today, I am happy to say that Vietnam is getting into the act:
Vietnam has been successful in performing the first marrow transplant, Vietnam News Agency on Wednesday quoted the announcement of country’s Central Hematology and Blood Transfusion Institute as reporting.
The transplant was operated on Nguyen Thi Lan, a local 21-year-old leukemia sufferer, and the donor of blood-forming stem cell was her elder sister.
After two-month treatment, Lan has been discharged from the institute in a normal health condition. Tests no longer found cancer cells, and her marrow is reported to be normal.
The institute’s vice director Bach Quoc Khanh said a new method of chemical treatment was used in the transplant to enable the patient to accept cells resistant to cancer. The new method also helped reduce the risk of side-effects such as infection and bleeding which can lead to the patient’s death.
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