Spinal Cord Injury

As a result of a car accident in 2001, Laura Dominguez broke her neck and was paralyzed from the chest down. She was treated with a mix of adult stem cells and other cells obtained from olfactory tissue inside her nose. The cells were transplanted across the injury site in her damaged spinal cord, and several months after the surgery, she was able to move her foot. She can now walk with braces. Her remarkable progress is continuing, and several other spinal cord injury patients like her are also showing benefits from the transplant surgery. Dr. Carlos Lima performed the surgery in Portugal, but neurologists in the US are seeking FDA approval to begin offering Dr. Lima’s therapy in the United States.

Leukemia

Patrizia Durante was diagnosed with acute leukemia six months into her pregnancy. Her daughter, Victoria Angel, was born healthy, but Durante was given only six months to live. The stem cells from the blood of her daughter’s umbilical cord were used for a transplant. Several years later, Durante is in full remission. “She saved her mommy,” Durante told reporters. “She’s my little miracle. That’s why we named her Victoria Angel. She’s my little angel.”

Krabbe’s Leukodystrophy

Gina Rugari was born with Krabbe’s leukodystrophy. This is a rare, degenerative enzyme disorder of the nervous system, in which the baby shows initial signs of irritability and developmental delay or regression. Seizures and fevers often follow, then blindness and deafness until the baby dies, usually before age 2. Gina was tested for Krabbe’s leukodystrophy shortly after she was born, because she had a brother who had died from the disease. Doctors treated Gina with chemotherapy to destroy her immune system, and introduced new umbilical cord blood stem cells from a closely matched donor. The transplanted cells produced the missing enzyme. Her body accepted the cells, and she is thriving several years after the transplant.

Parkinson’s Disease

Dennis Turner was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and by early 1991 he suffered extreme shaking of the right side of his body and became unable to use his right arm. Neurosurgeon Dr. Michele Lavesque removed a small tissue sample from Mr. Turner’s brain and insolated adult neural stem cells. He multiplied and matured these cells into nerve cells, and injected them back into the left side of Mr. Turner’s brain, which controls the right side of the body. Soon afterward, the Parkinson’s symptoms began to improve in his right side. His trembling decreased, until to all appearances it disappeared. Neurological evaluation indicated a marked improvement in his symptoms, which lasted for about 5 years. Because Parkinson’s is a progressive ailment, his condition is continuing to deteriorate, but as Mr. Turner recently testified at a U.S. Senate Committee hearing, “…I have no doubt that because of this treatment I’ve enjoyed five years of quality life that I feared has passed me by.” He enthusiastically expressed a willingness to undergo a repeat surgery of this sort to further slow the progression of his symptoms.