The Don Margolis Blog

We have some good news today.  Dr. Richard Burt, the Adult Stem Cell doctor at Northwestern University is publishing results of a study on treating Multiple Sclerosis patients with their own Adult Stem Cells.  Dr. Burt is known for his  Stem Cell research-- because he helps actual human patients- not mice.

And the results are good- VERY GOOD!  The study took 21 patients in the “relapsing-remitting” form of Multiple Sclerosis and implanted them with their own stem cells:

Three years after being treated, on average, 17 of the patients had improved on tests of their symptoms, 16 had experienced no relapse and none had deteriorated, the study found.

So this means that 16 out of 21 were essentially cured- 76% and the remaining 5 didn't deteriorate!

One of the patients treated was Edwin McClure:

McClure was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis as a high school senior in 2002, after his vision dramatically worsened.

“It was like someone had turned down the dimmer switch,” he said in a telephone interview yesterday. He also suffered from dizziness, poor balance and fatigue so bad that he’d collapse and sleep for three hours every day after school.

Over the next few years, McClure was treated with steroids and interferons. While they controlled the disease for a time, his symptoms eventually broke through, triggering fresh attacks.

McClure went to Chicago to take part in Burt’s study at the end of 2005, spent a month being treated, and hasn’t needed any drugs since.

‘A Blessing’

“It’s a blessing,” he said. “My disease has been halted.”

Even the stress of being in the competitive graduate program -- a factor known to exacerbate symptoms of multiple sclerosis -- hasn’t caused a single attack, he said. His balance is better and his vision hasn’t deteriorated further.

Click here to read the whole thing


Update: Here is a video on Barry Goudy, another Multiple Sclerosis patient who was in this trial-

Daniel Bakhchevnikov, a young 7 year old boy in Sauk City, Wisconsin, attended school for the first time in over 1 year recently.  The miracle that Daniel is even alive is due to the wonders of Adult Stem Cell research in the form of a bone marrow transplant to treat his Aplastic Anemia.

Diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia at the age of 5, Daniel had spent the last two years mostly in a hospital.  In aplastic anemia, the body does not  produce enough new blood cells- red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.  The patient is always tired and at high risk of infections and uncontrollable bleeding.

Or another definition for Aplastic Anemia  as Daniel's mother, Tatiana described it -

"It was no life," she said. "It was hell."

The doctors tried antibody treatments first.  They didn't help.  After going in and out of hospitals for more than one year, the doctors decided the only way to help Daniel was through a bone marrow transplant.

After chemotherapy treatments to kill as much of his old bone marrow as possible, Daniel received a bone marrow transplant from an anonymous European donor on Aug. 8, 2008.

The day his blood cell counts got high enough he could go home, Tatiana did a handstand in the hospital hallway.

I wish Daniel and his family the best in the future.  Daniel is yet another in the long list of bone marrow (stem cell) transplant recipients to become healthy again.  It makes one want to register to become a bone marrow donor and try to help out.

You can read the whole article here

That's right.  We have yet another new way to get stem cells now.  I have touched on stem cells from the bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, peripheral blood, fat, noses....and now we have Adult Stem Cells extracted from pulled teeth.  Wisdom teeth, baby teeth, and healthy permanent teeth-- if a dentist pulls it, stem cells can be extracted from it.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Gregory Chotkowski, DMD , the president of Stem Save, a stem cell storage company that stores stem cells taken from pulled teeth.  Dr. Chotkowski, first got involved in stem cells because his son suffers from Muscular Dystrophy.  After researching stem cells for his son and realizing that each time he pulled a tooth as a practicing oral surgeon, he was missing a possible chance to preserve stem cells in each of his patients- Dr. Chotkowski decided to help form Stem Save.

Dr. Chotkowski sees his company as a possible "2nd chance" for parents who may not have stored their children's umbilical cord blood stem cells, but later on wished they had.  Therefore, when let's say a 5 year old has his baby teeth pulled out, a dentist who is affiliated with Stem Save, puts the teeth in a special kit and then it is sent to Stem Save where they extract the pulp which contains the stem cells and it is then preserved in FDA compliant conditions similar to the way cord blood is saved.

Dr. Chotkowski says the next challenge his company faces is putting the stored stem cells into use.  He says there is a big disconnect between the dental world (dentists) and the medical field (doctors).   He wants to bridge that gap.  Therefore, Dr. Chotkowski has put together an impressive Science Advisory Council to work on putting these stem cells into play in the near future (I hope!).


Dr. Chotkowski sent me this article  on his company  that goes into more details:


Dental stem cells offer hope -- for the future
By Kathy Kincade
Editor in Chief
June 4, 2008

For Gregory Chotkowski, D.M.D., O.M.S., a retired oral surgeon whose son suffers from muscular dystrophy, the ability to harvest and preserve stem cells from the dental pulp of newly extracted teeth is a dream come true. So is being able to offer this same service to dentists and their patients.

Good news for women with stress incontinence living in the Michigan area-  they are beginning a clinical trial to treat stress incontinence with the patient's own Adult Stem Cells.

Stress incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine associated with the activity such as coughing and sneezing, lifting, laughing, running.

This disease affects approximately 13 million Americans, most of them women.

From the article:

Current treatments, including medicine, exercises and surgery, are not always effective and may have undesirable side effects.

The stem cells from 48 female research participants age 18 or older will be collected at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, and duplicated. The cells will then be injected into the muscles that control urination to strengthen them and prevent leakage.

"If successful, muscle-derived stem cell therapy could offer new hope to people looking to live a life free of urinary leakage," says Urology department Chairman Kenneth Peters, M.D., who is leading the research at Beaumont.



Beaumont Hospital in Michigan will be conducting this trial that is accepting women only at this time  Call Debbie Hasenau, R.N., at (248) 551-3355 for more information.

This stem cell treatment has been going on for at least 4-5 years in Europe, thus proving once again that the USA is far behind in accepting stem cell therapy which could benefit millions.

Click here for the full article on the trial

Every 6 months, Dr. David Prentice and the good people at the Family Research Council  update an "Adult Stem Cell Success Stories" report.  This is a compilation of patients who have been helped by Adult Stem Cells in the last 6 months- from July 2008 to December 2008.  The report also features Adult Stem Cell research breakthroughs as well.

This is a great read and the uplifting stories will make your day-

ADULT STEM CELL SUCCESS STORIES - 2008 UPDATE: JULY-DECEMBER

by David Prentice, PhD, William L. Saunders, JD, Jan Ledochowski, and Lukas Lucenic

And here is the previous report from the first half of 2008.

I beg you again for patience- this will be another long post and I will get to woman with Rheumatoid Arthritis helped by Adult Stem Cells soon enough.

It has been a few months since I last checked up on Matthew Faiella and his loving parents Daniel and Ruth.  Matthew has seen wonderful improvement in his Autism after receiving Adult Stem Cell treatment in Costa Rica and his parents document each and every improvement in their son at their great blog here http://www.recoveringmatthew.blogspot.com .

It is a great blog because the Faiellas get it.  They get what is important in life-(family and son) and it shines through in their blog.  So even if you don't have any personal connection to Autism, their blog is still worth checking out.  Go there- you will be happy you did.

I know what you are thinking  "Ok, Don, I will go look at the Recovering Matthew blog, but what about Rheumatoid Arthritis??"

Good question!  Well, apparently while the Faiellas were in Costa Rica for Matthew's stem cell treatment, they met another woman who was also there for stem cell treatment-  for her Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Bev, the name of the woman wrote an email to the Faiellas and they showed it here in this post.
Here is the letter from Bev in its entirety:

Dear Daniel, Ruth and Matthew,
I was very excited to stumble on to your website as I reminisce about my journey to ICM almost 1 year ago.

God's richest blessings to you as Matthew progresses and you persevere with his recovery.

I am the Canadian lady with rheumatoid arthritis who sat in the waiting room with you at ICM (the stem cell company) while you waited for Matthew's second injection on his first trip. It would be my first (stem cell) treatment that day. As a teacher, I can tell you I was very excited when you said that Matthew had slept through the night for the first time after he had received his first stem cell infusion. I was and am so excited about his recovery.

As for me, well a year ago I never thought I would be where I am at today. I prayed that the Lord would allow me to walk up stairs normally, sequentially just a little bit one day. Well, I don't even think about stairs anymore. Often I run them. This is truly a miracle for a year ago I could only go up and down stairs by pulling myself up or proceed on my bottom one agonizing step at a time. I'm back to being a wife, a mom and a teacher. Yes indeed, I am back teaching and finishing my master's degree. I truly believe that God lead me to ICM and I would not be where I am had I not gone.

Would I go again? Yes, but I'll need to save up before I can. I am not cured, but I am way, way better. I know Matthew is perfect to you always and that God has made him a mighty young man to work through such hurdles at such a young age. Blessings again to you parents for helping him along this road.

I look forward to catching your blog every now and then,
Bev

Matthew's story is fantastic.  Bev's story is equally fantastic.  Where would these two be without Adult Stem Cells.  At least they could make it outside the U.S and Canada and go for treatment-  millions of others aren't so lucky.  Non-invasive safe procedures- no downside.  Why isn't it available in the United States?

We have a growing list of children with either Optic Nerve Hypoplasia or its' close cousin Septo-Optic Dysplasia.  These children have gone to China to receive Adult Stem Cells - they have returned from China with miraculous improvement in their vision and other positive side effercts that help with their development.

Remember, before Adult Stem Cells, there was absolutely no treatment for this disease in which the optic nerve fails to develop.  The patient was sentenced to a life of blindness.  And now, thanks to a company called Beike Biotech,  these children and their families have a better quality of life.  Xavier Carballo, Cameron Petersen, Cody Fend, Savannah Watring, Lydia Olmsted and Rylea Barlett, and Lydia Black are among those on my ever growing list.  I am very happy to announce we have yet another child -  who has been part of a "stem cell miracle"

Connor Corkern is the latest child to be added to the growing list.  Connor, a young boy from Hammond, Louisiana, traveled with his family to China in July 2008 to receive Adult Stem Cells for his optic nerve hypoplasia.  Since then Connor has improved in many ways:

Grandpa Kenny Corkern said:

He™s doing things I never thought he would do, he said. And he's picking up on things a little faster, and he™s getting around better. I can't say enough about him and his mom and daddy, how they take care of him. And I can™t say enough about the people that helped.

And the parents say:


Connor™s progress since getting stem cell transplants six months ago is little short of a miracle, say his parents, Coye and Katie Corkern.

He™s doing great. He is doing wonderful. It™s like we™ve got a totally new baby, Coye Corkern said Wednesday.


Coye Corkern said tests show Connor™s optic nerve has actually grown from the size of an ink pen™s center to about the size of a spaghetti noodle.

Katie admits to thinking about going back to China or to Thailand, which also offers the procedure currently banned in the United States.

I think what if he got a few more transplants, what else would happen, she said.

Here is the full article

Since global warming seems to have cooled off, the only climate change we may have  now after Obama's inauguration is a 'stem cell' climate change.

I have tried to document the positive effects of stem cell treatment for blind children with Septo-optic Dysplasia and the similar Optic Nerve Hypoplasia in this blog.  Lydia Black, Lydia Olmsted and Rylea Barlett, Savannah Watring, Cody Fend, Cameron Petersen, and most recently Xavier Carballo.

All of these are fantastic stories.  And hopefully, in the near future, I will have some new ones to share with you.  For example, today I have a story about a young blind girl with Septo-optic Dysplasia who is heading to China to receive her stem cell treatment.  After a community fund raising effort Megan Traynor is on her way to China to receive stem cell therapy for her condition.  Also coming from Northern Ireland to China is a 2 year old named Dakota Clarke.  And in another story, yet another girl, Bailey Locklear is going to Thailand to get treatment for her Optic nerve hypoplasia through the same company - Beike Biotech.

This is from Bailey's mother:

"People ask me, 'What if nothing happens? What if you go over there and see no result?" Walker said. "Well, that's a leap of faith we took. Why would I not want to give my daughter the vision she deserves and not have to struggle so bad for her to be able see what God has made - the birds and clouds and everything? There's no way I could not try. If somehow it (Bailey's vision) doesn't change, then it wasn't God's will. At least I can say I did everything I could."

Judging from the results of  trailblazers who went to China before Bailey, I am confident Bailey will see good results.

I hope in the near future I will be able to follow up on these brave children like Bailey, Megan and Dakota and their parents and add them to the growing list of blind children who are able to see because of the miracles of Adult Stem Cells.

For more information and previous results of this treatment- please contact me- donmargolis@gmail.com   or you can contact Dr. Kara Zhang- the medical director of Beike Biotech at dr.zhang@beikebiotech.com

This will be a long post today.  But please stay with me- I'm going to a good place and I think you will learn something.

Come with me-

Michael Snow was a victim of a forceps slipping during his breach birth. The slippage caused a skull fracture and his cerebral cortex was damaged. This brain injury (cerebral palsy) has affected Michael's ability to speak, move, and even sit up.
The doctors recommended Michael be put in a hospice, but Michael's parents had none of that:
It™s amazing how quickly some doctors give up. They made us feel like he was taking up space and needed to move on, Snow said.

Through prayer, the Snows decided to seek further treatment and to accept whatever God had planned for their son.

We took a leap of faith. I™m a very simple person and I felt if Michael were going to die, at least he would be given love, Mrs. Snow said. He would know love and be given love in the time he had. Choices like this are life and death decisions, and I had a motherly feeling that I wanted him to be in my arms.

2 years ago, the Snows decided to try stem cell treatment for Michael. Being devoutly Catholic, they researched and found that the Adult Stem Cells found in umbilical cord blood presented no ethical issues.

Now, I have documented in this blog about the many children with Cerebral Palsy who have gone to Duke University and received cord blood stem cells taken from their own cord blood stored at birth. Well, what if you didn't store your baby's cord blood and he/she has some condition like Cerebral Palsy?? What do you do? Unfortunately, you have to go outside of the United States. Germany, Costa Rica, China are just a few countries that use cord blood stem cells that are donated at birth.

That is precisely what the Snows did. They took Michael to Tijuana, Mexico where he was treated:

The treatment had been used with some success in children with cerebral palsy, so we met with researchers and decided to go for it, he said.

We wanted to do everything we could and explore everything we could for Michael, Mrs. Snow said. What™s sad about the whole thing is this treatment shouldn™t be so expensive, and people shouldn™t have to leave the country to try it. I wish researchers were doing more to look into cord blood stem cells. It™s been left behind by other research.

Now, this stem cell treatment wasn't a miracle treatment as most stories I have on this blog.  However, Michael did improve some:

Snow said Michael was having severe problems with tremors prior to one of the treatments, and improved after receiving the cells. He has also had some improvement in his eyesight and other functions, but still remains unable to walk or perform other tasks without assistance.

We didn™t get the miracle we hoped for when we tried the stem cells, but we saw some improvement, and we™ve seen others who have been helped in a big way by the treatments, Snow said.

Snow said he wants to continue to explore different options for his son, and thinks cord blood and adult stem cells will play a key part in the future treatment of people with neurological disabilities.

I really pray about upcoming stem cell treatments, and I wish there was more emphasis in this country on this research, he said. You can™t wait forever when you have someone with a strong need like Michael™s.

Here is my sermon-  I envision a United States where the use of cord blood stem cells and autologous stem cells is commonplace.  What did the Snows have to lose?  Nothing except some money.  Adult Stem Cells have been proven safe time and time again.  And while it wasn't a miracle cure in this case, it did help.  Control of bowel movement in Spinal Cord Injury patients, 10% increases in heart function of  Heart Disease patients, or an increase in vision in Optic nerve disorders- while stem cells aren't a 100% cure in these cases, to the patient and their families- these differences in the patient's quality of life can be humongous.

Dr. Fernandez Vina,  the deputy chairman on the Repair Stem Cell Institute Science Advisory Board and one of the pioneers of stem cell therapy says it best:

For doctors who say that current stem cell therapies are "unproven," Dr. Fernandez Viña has the following response:

"How many patients must to be treated to say this is a cure? How many patients must die waiting for the word "cure?"

A lot of diseases are not totally cured with drugs but the laboratories talk about curing (HIV, Tuberculosis and a lot of malignant deseases). They say that the drugs "cure" but in reality the drugs improve the quality of life. Stem cells "cure" in the same sense. If a person is dying of diabetes and we improve the prognosis and he no longer needs insulin injections, we increase the C peptide, decrease the HbA1c, decrease protein in the urine, decrease the risk of amputation or kidney failure, in my book that is a "cure."

Dr. Vina is right.  Promises of Obama freeing up money for stem cell research??  Sure we can always do more research, but we already have something.  We already have something right now that can be used- Adult Stem Cells- to help millions of people.  It is at our fingertips and we refuse to use it-  the longer we wait, the more that die- that is a real tragedy.

Here is the full article