|
Written by Kristin Ricci
|
|
Thursday, 21 May 2009 14:32 |
|
Our son has received 14 stem cell infusions over the past year. This was split into two visits. Each stem cell infusion contains between 10 to 15 million stem cells. The stem cells were derived from donated umbilical cords while we were in China. Since each umbilical cord only contains between 100,000 to 300,000 stem cells, Drew also had received nerve growth factor infusions. The nerve growth factor was extracted from the cord serum and it's main purpose is to encourage the repair of neurons. Also, the nerve growth factor aids the potential of the stem cells. Whenever Drew would receive his stem cell infusion, it was always followed with the nerve growth factor infusion.
Stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood would fall into the adult stem cells category. Embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that are at least a few days old. These two types of stem cells are derived from two completely different sources. Most of the information we've researched largely pertains to umbilical cord stem cells. However, we are keeping our eyes open on embryonic stem cells transfusions around the world. Our biggest concern would be adverse side effects.
Stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood contain a large reservoir of hematopoietic stem cells. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are defined by their ability to form multiple cell types including neurons which is exactly what we were looking for! Since umbilical cord stem cells are considered to be the most immature type of stem cell, they lack exterior protein markers (antigens), which means the host would not recognize the stem cells as foreign. This means there are no incidences of graft vs. host disease. I remember this was our greatest fear with proceeding forward with this treatment and we spent a long time scouring the Internet for adverse reactions to the treatment. |
|
|
Written by Kristin Ricci
|
|
Sunday, 17 May 2009 09:43 |
|
My Husband and I have traveled to China with our son twice now for stem cell transfusions. We never saved Drew's umbilical cord and we knew for three days that he would be born extremely early. I don't even remember having any discussions about this with our team of doctors. I remember thinking briefly about it but I remember reasoning with Mike that the medical team would tell us if they thought we should save it. We were definitely not in the right frame of mind to be making these type of decisions. Looking back on the Spring of 2006 I sure wish we would have screamed "Yes, save it!". We didn't know anything concerning umbilical cord stem cells and the conditions the stem cells can treat. However we haven't beaten ourselves up over it, we learned a long time ago that worrying and obsessing over your past only makes your present life miserable. Anyways, my advice for anyone expecting would be to definitely save the umbilical cord because you can never predict the future. The potential benefits from doing so outweigh any costs associated with it.
I do know that Duke University located in Durham, North Carolina will transfuse a person's own umbilical cord stem for treating cerebral palsy. I called in the spring of 2008 and Drew was put on a transplantation list since we didn't save his umbilical cord. The person I talked with did tell me due to his extremely low birth weight, they might not have been able to do the autologous transplant anyways. However, if Duke University does contact us and is able to do a transfusion with donated umbilical cord stem cells, I will definitely write a post on here to update everyone. The ability to do this type of transfusion may take awhile in the USA, so my best advice would be to start conducting your own research on what is available in other countries. |
|
|
Written by Mike Ricci
|
|
Wednesday, 13 May 2009 14:25 |
|
Below is a list of some websites you may be interested in researching for alternative therapies and treatments.
- www.stemcellschina.com - We started our research here back January of 2008. There are a ton of patients' blogs and little excerpts on patients' experiences on this website. You can also read about various patient's before and after results with the stem cells.
- www.beikebiotech.com - This website has a lot of information on the company and information on stem cells in the news. You can also read about patient's experiences on this website too.
- www.stemcellresearchnews.com - If I ever have time to kill (which is not very often), I go to this website to catch up on current headline news.
- www.searchclinicaltrials.org - This website is great to keep up-to-date with clinical trials currently underway in the USA...that is if you live here!
I also highly recommend joining the www.yahoo.com group "BIA4KIDS" (Brain Injury; Alternatives 4 kids). The group moderator is Kirshner Ross-Vaden, RN. She was the VP of the Foreign Patient Division of Beike Biotech and their lead medical consultant. However, she recently resigned from this position but she does still run this yahoo group. This forum has a ton of information on stem cell therapy around the world, vasodilation therapy, HBOT, different supplements to take for brain injury, and a lot more. If you ever have any questions you can do a search and find the answer on a past post or you can ask the group. To be honest, I'm not big on posting questions because I can usually find them. It's been around since 2005. |
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 1 of 2 |
