In what seems to be a continuing trend, Americans are seeking out stem cell research and treatment abroad because it isn't available in the United States. Chuck Melton, of Hoyleton, Illinois was the latest to leave the United States in search of the stem cell treatment that would improve his quality of life. It worked so well that Chuck is trying to raise money to return to China for more Adult Stem Cells to treat his spinal cord injury.

Doing his own research on the treatment

Chuck who was paralyzed in a diving accident in 2002 went to China in January 2007 to try and improve his spinal cord injury. Chuck said "I found out that China had been doing [stem cell treatment] for a number of years and experimenting with treatments and results. So I contacted [people in China] and talked to doctors and patients and got a lot of great feedback from it.”

His wife Kelly said "We decided to take a leap of faith and send him and see what happened. We figured we didn’t have anything to lose.”

Before the stem cell treatment:

• Couldn't sweat to cool off his body, would pass out at high temperatures


• No feeling in his legs


• difficulty breathing, diminished lung function


• No control over his bladder

After the Adult Stem Cells were implanted:

• Started sweating after first injection of stem cells


• More feeling in his legs, can now feel hot and cold


• Easier breathing, stronger lungs


• More control over his bladder

Stem Cell Research using Adult Stem Cells Giving Hope

Chuck said “It’s been a big boost in morale. It’s all the more reason I want to go back to see what possibly could come out of that.”

“We’re hoping he can gain more bowel and bladder control and functions,” Kelly added. “We’re not looking for him to walk again per se, but if we can improve his quality of life and give him some independence, then it will be worth it.”

Going Back to China for more Stem Cell Therapy

As stated above, Chuck is trying to raise money so he can go back to China a second time and hopefully improve even more. Funny how we always hear that these stem cell therapies overseas are unproven and scams, but then I must ask once more why Chuck and his wife want him to go back again. Must be something good there- Adult Stem Cells

Chuck hopes stem cell treatment will be available to others like him here in this country.

“I think [lawmakers] are focusing on the wrong thing — on embryonic instead of umbilical cord,” he said. “I think they should seriously consider what China and others have done. I know there’s a lot of skepticism, but they need to focus on the healing process and the problem itself, as opposed to trying to clone another person.”

Well said Chuck.

A raffle is being held for Chuck's benefit is being organized in which a high definition television, a laptop and other gifts are prizes. For more information, you can call 618-231-5558.

Read the whole stem cell news article here

In what seems to be a continuing trend, Americans are seeking out stem cell research and treatment abroad because it isn't available in the United States. Chuck Melton, of Hoyleton, Illinois was the latest to leave the United States in search of the stem cell treatment that would improve his quality of life. It worked so well that Chuck is trying to raise money to return to China for more Adult Stem Cells. Chuck who was paralyzed in a diving accident in 2002 went to China in January 2007 to try and improve his spinal cord injury. Chuck said "I found out that China had been doing [stem cell treatment] for a number of years and experimenting with treatments and results. So I contacted [people in China] and talked to doctors and patients and got a lot of great feedback from it.” His wife Kelly said "We decided to take a leap of faith and send him and see what happened. We figured we didn’t have anything to lose.”

Before the stem cell treatment:

• Couldn't sweat to cool off his body, would pass out at high temperatures
• No feeling in his legs
• difficulty breathing, diminished lung function
• No control over his bladder

After the Adult Stem Cells were implanted:

• Started sweating after first injection of stem cells
• More feeling in his legs, can now feel hot and cold
• Easier breathing, stronger lungs
• More control over his bladder

Stem Cell Research using Adult Stem Cells Giving Hope

Chuck said, “It’s been a big boost in morale. It’s all the more reason I want to go back to see what possibly could come out of that.”

Hailey Goranflo, a 6 year old girl suffering from Batten Disease is now back in China a second time to receive cord blood stem cells (Adult Stem Cells) to try and help her condition even more. Her mother says the first trip to China to receive stem cell therapy saved her life.

Hailey went to China last year and according to this stem cell news story here:

Before the stem cell treatment:

• Hailey was averaging 500 seizures per day


• Doctors said she wouldn't live much longer

After the Cord Blood Stem Cells were implanted in China:

• Hailey has 5 seizures per day


• Has reversed damage done and has gained 10 pounds

Hailey's mother Miranda says “They saved her life.  The doctors in China saved her life.  We know that.”

Strong words coming from the mother of a child.  What did the doctors in the United States have to offer?

Going back to China for more stem cell therapy

And for those of you who think it is a scam,  they are  back in China now for more stem cell therapy from Adult Stem Cells. To get fooled once by a so called "scam" is one thing, but to go back to China for more?  The only logical explanation is that the Goranflos have deduced (correctly) the stem cell research and treatment is more advanced in China  than it is in the United States.

Dr. Mark Freedman, the doctor in Canada doing a study to treat MS (in which one person died out of 18 patients) said previously that this same stem cell treatment center in China is "dangerous in the wrong hands,” he said. “The only reason these places could be in existence is to take people’s money and offer them something that’s unproven.”

It may be "unproven" in the New England Journal of Medicine, but to people like the Goranflos and thousands of others who have gone to China for stem cell treatment, it is proven to them. And until this treatment is available in the United States, Americans (and others) like the Goranflos will have to keep going overseas to get the only treatment that can help.

Terrible accident causes Spinal Cord Injury

Michael Flounders, a 52 year old man from Fressingfield, England broke his neck and suffered a spinal cord injury in a bad accident 20 years ago and thought he would never be able to walk again. However, thanks to the wonders of Adult Stem Cell research and having his own Adult Stem Cells implanted into his spinal cord in Ecuador, he now has aspirations of walking.

Mr. Flounders read about a new stem cell treatment in Luis Vernaza hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Dr. Luis Geffner had just completed an Adult Stem Cell research study of implanting the patient's own stem cells from their bone marrow back into the patient's spinal cord.

From the article:

He first heard about the pioneering procedures on a spinal injuries blog online.

“It was really bizarre, as I was reading about it I knew it was what I had to do. The whole thing became a very spiritual experience for me,” he said. “It was really a step of faith to travel to a country 5,500 miles away where the doctors were saying they didn't know what they would find when they opened up my neck, it could just crumble and all collapse, but I knew it was the right thing for me to do.

“You have to evaluate your whole life, the quality of life you have and think can I live with what I have now or do I take a chance to see if I could be a bit better?”

In November 2007, Mr. Flounders decided to do it. He traveled to Ecuador for the stem cell therapy.

Before the stem cell treatment:

• hair stopped growing and his legs were white due to poor circulation


• no strength in his stomach and back muscles so his body would always flop and fold


• no feelings in his legs

After the Adult Stem Cells were implanted:

• hairs in his legs are growing and his legs have color due to better circulation


• can control his stomach and back muscles - no more flopping and folding, can control his upper body better


• every day has more and more feelings in his legs

New Hope from Adult Stem Cell Research

The 52-year-old from Fressingfield, received ground breaking stem cell therapy in Ecuador in November 2007 and since the treatment he has started to see major improvements.

“Since the stem cell implant I am making recovery. How long and how far it will go no-one can say because it is so new,” he said. “It could still take a number of years before the full effects of the operation are felt because nerves are very slow in healing.

“It has broadened the horizons of my recovery; it has given me a sense of hope. Everyday things are changing; the feelings in my legs are becoming a lot more powerful.”

Gamble on Adult Stem Cells Pays Dividends

The man took a chance on stem cell research using Adult Stem Cells, and it has paid off. I applaud him for having the courage to make a long journey to the unknown and having it seemingly pay off and wish him continued improvement. Mr. Flounders is an inspiration to me and hopefully to others as well.

Click here to read the stem cell news about Mr. Flounders

The link seems to have been moved - This stem cell link should work

A Canadian Television station decided to do some stem cell research of their own recently. CTV Calgary did a two part series-a comparison of 2 different stem cell treatments using Adult Stem Cells to treat Multiple Sclerosis.

Part 1- Stem Cell Treatment for MS in Canada

In part one of the stem cell series, they took a look at a Canadian clinical Adult Stem Cell research study led by Dr. Mark Freedman at Ottawa General Hospital in which they first use chemotherapy to destroy the Multiple Sclerosis' patient's immune system and then implant the patient's own stem cells to create a new immune system and hopefully destroy the Multiple Sclerosis in the process.

The TV show focused on MS patient Jennifer Molson who they show is seemingly cured of her MS as they show her playing street hockey with her kids. On the other side of the coin, they also show a patient, John McCleary who died in the clinical study from the effects of the chemotherapy (before the stem cells were implanted).

Part 2- Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis in China

In part two of the series, they focus on two patients who have gone to China to receive Adult Stem Cells, but this time in the form of cord blood stem cells- stem cells taken from the umbilical cord blood of new born babies. The stem cells are administered through an IV as well as implanted into the spinal cord.  This treatment does not require chemotherapy.

The first patient they showed was Margo Oliver of Prince Edward Island:

two months after coming home, she was able to get out of her wheelchair for the first time in two years and to walk, albeit with assistance. Oliver believes if she could afford more treatments, she'd be able to walk unassisted.

"Everyone that can afford it should go and the sooner you go, the better."

Then they follow another patient, Lee Buckry to China and film his stem cell treatment. Before Buckry went to China, he did his stem cell research and spoke with Multiple Sclerosis patients who had been there before him:

"To a tee, everyone has said, 'Go'. Not one person has even come close to regretting it," he said, referring to patients he has chatted with after finding them online.

Buckry just received his Adult Stem Cells recently and has seen slight improvement although the doctors said it would take up to two months for the stem cells to take effect.

Hypocrite Alert

And what has to be the most hypocritical statement so far of 2009, Dr. Freedman, the one in charge of the stem cell study in Ottawa takes a shot at his foreign counterparts in stem cell research.

Dr. Freedman is concerned that patients are forking over large amounts of money for unproven treatments like this, especially when there is no follow-up care or monitoring when they get home.

"It's dangerous in the wrong hands," he said. "The only reason these places could be in existence is to take people's money and offer them something that's unproven."

That is ridiculous. A doctor who is doing an unproven therapy himself (in which one person died in a small 18 person study), says that stem cell therapy somewhere else  is dangerous and offering something that's unproven? Isn't that what you are doing Dr. Freedman? And I'm fairly certain you aren't doing the $4 million dollar study for free. This study is funded by the MS Scientific Research Foundation, I'm guessing this is a mixture of grants from the Canadian government (taxpayers) and donations.

Adult Stem Cell Research- which treatment is best?

Now, which stem cell treatment for Multiple Sclerosis is better? Chemo and a patient's own stem cells or no chemo and cord blood stem cells? Which delivery method of the stem cells is best? Which type of Adult Stem Cells is better? A patient's own stem cells or cord blood stem cells? I don't know the answer to those questions. Probably nobody does at this point. But it is good to have this debate. At the very least, it is good in that it gives MS patients a couple of options.

Now, let's take it a step further, imagine if they had 30 more options, what if Adult Stem Cells (already proven safe in hundreds of clinical trials) were available in the United States and Canada? Multiple Sclerosis patients would have to pick and choose which hospital and therapy offered the best chance of success. Very quickly, the effective Adult stem cell treatments and doctors would be pinpointed by the market (the patients) and just like that, the ineffective stem cell treatment hospitals would fall by the wayside. Either they would lose money and close shop or as in any competition, they would strive to invent a better Adult Stem Cell therapy which is better for all of us.  Another benefit would be hospitals would strive to compete on price, thus lowering the costs for each patient.

Look at Lee Buckry's comment that every single person he spoke with who had previously had the stem cell therapy in China said "GO" - as in go to China and get the stem cells. Something must be good about it since Beike Biotech, the company in China has been helping people since 2001.

What do you think? This should make a good debate and I look forward to your comments.

UPDATE: Betty Helm, another MS patient who went to China read this post and wanted to give her opinion-

I am one of the ones who have MS and went to China for Beike Biotech's stem cell therapy. I got my life back. It's the best decision I ever made in my life. You can see my progress during the therapy by going to Betty's MS Blog on www.stemcellschina.com.

As long as stem cells are governed by politics in this country, patients have no hope except to look elsewhere for treatment. I did and I have no regrets. I felt this issue would not be resolved in my lifetime and I don't have the patience to wait. It's a shame that people in this country - supposedly the best healthcare in the world - are left to suffer and die. All I can say -- there is hope -just not here.

Click here to see the stem cell video by CTV Calgary and then weigh in on this in the comment section.