The Don Margolis Blog

I'm happy to announce we have another Adult Stem Cell success story to share with you today.  This begins as a sad story, but with a happy ending.  In 2004, Thomisha Harris, of Oregon gave birth to twin boys.  However, one of them, Terell, had problems almost immediately and began to swell and weaken.  He was diagnosed with ( familial) hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH).

HLH is a disease in which lymphocytes and macrophages fail to commit suicide when they are no longer needed. Instead, they attack normal cells and inhibit essential processes such as the production of blood platelets.

HLH is a very rare disease, but is believed to come from flawed genes.  Unfortunately, the Harris' had passed on this gene to Terell who died after 10 weeks.

Undeterred, Mrs. Harris had twins again about 2 years ago.  The story was almost the same.  Taylor, a baby girl, developed HLH.  Luckily, this time the doctors were prepared and treated Taylor with stem cell therapy:

But doctors had braced for Taylor's problem, tracking down two pregnant women whose biologic makeup closely matched the baby girl's. When one of those women delivered, medics saved blood from her umbilical cord and transplanted it into Taylor, rebuilding her sick blood system.

"The doctors are saying it's a cure," says Harris, a Portland jewelry designer. Taylor today is a healthy toddler, "telling us no and getting into things and very curious . . . . We were just blessed."

Full article here

Erica Nader, a Spinal Cord Injury patient  was the first American to go to Portugal to receive Dr. Carlos Lima's stem cell treatment for SCI- with Adult Stem Cells taken from Erica's nose.

These days, Erica has opened up the Walk the Line to SCI Recovery- a special state-of-the-art rehabilitation program for Spinal Cord Injury patients. In October,2008, I featured Erica Nader and the Walk the Line to SCI Recovery program here in this post.

Go check it out.  In fact, if you go to the Walk the Line website, you will see they offer a free trial session.

The criteria to be part of the program is simple:

• Strong desire for and commitment to SCI recovery


• Medical clearance from a physician to participate in intensive exercise based activity


• Medical clearance from a physician for Upper and Lower extremity weight bearing

In other words, it isn't going to be easy and you need a letter from your doctor.  However, being helped by such a professional team and the newest equipment- the benefits will probably be worth the effort!

Adult Stem Cells are now helping Dogs, Cats, and Horses. Regular readers of this Adult Stem Cell research blog are already aware of this fact. However, I love these stories anyhow for two different reasons.
1. It makes me (and hopefully you) feel good to see how Adult Stem Cells improve the life of a pet and in turn the pet's owner(s).
2. Right now, because Veterinarians don't have an FDA to answer to, and realizing that the worst thing that could happen is the stem cells don't work, they are getting a head start on this. If the stem cells weren't helping dogs, cats and horses, do you think that Vet-Stem, the company that provides the stem cells  for the pets would still be in business?

Anyway, no more preaching- on to the story. This is the story of Scott Kaine and his faithful dog, Otis. Otis is 13 years old with a plethora of problems. Congestive heart failure and joints being the main ones. Otis' veterinarian recommended the stem cell therapy.

Kaine did a little Adult Stem Cell research himself and said
"It's not a magic pill, and it may not work," he said. "I figured the worst thing that would happen is I was out 2,500 bucks. But if it added a week to his life, it was worth it.

And how is Otis after the stem cell treatment?  Kaine said he can see the difference in Otis already
Otis has more energy and gets around better (booties that provide traction on Kaine's tile floors also help). He still barks plenty, sniffs everything he can, and his personality hasn't changed one bit.

Bailey has treated three animals, including Otis, since becoming certified in 2008 ” and all three are doing remarkably better, he said. Months after the stem-cell treatment, one beagle showed a 90 percent improvement in his hips on radiographic imaging.

"(Stem cell therapy) is going to be here to stay; this is going to be the next big thing in veterinary medicine," Bailey said. "We tend to be pioneers, because there are less hoops for us to jump through."

Click here to read the full story

Yesterday, I gave you Preston Walker and Richard Humphries, two men who have been helped immensely after having received Adult Stem Cells in Costa Rica to treat their Multiple Sclerosis.    And today, I found another MS patient who seems to have been similarly helped.

His name is Dennis Trammell.  And he spoke in front of a Texas Senior Center earlier this week telling about his improvement of his Multiple Sclerosis since receiving stem cell treatment:

Dennis Trammell gave a recap of his condition at Charlie™s Angels Senior Center Tuesday.
Trammel, who has MS, traveled to Costa Rica last year to undergo stem cell treatment for the disease “ something not available in the United States.
Cell Medicines, the company out of Costa Rica did a fabulous job, Trammell began. They set us up in the hotel we were going to use, they set up the transportation, they did all the work of coordinating the different doctors.

He said there was a doctor for the liposuction to obtain his stem cells and another that administered the injections.
As far as how my improvements are going, there are two sides to where I struggle with MS, he said. There™s the physical side which has to do with my arm and leg and then there™s the energy side of things.
Where I™ve seen the most results is the things you can™t see “ my energy, my balance.

Good for you Dennis.  Here is the full story here

I started following the saga of Preston Walker and Richard Humphries in June 2008, just after they had returned from Costa Rica to receive Adult Stem Cells to treat their Multiple Sclerosis.

Both men felt improvement immediately after the stem cell treatment.  And they still seem to be doing well- almost 9 months after the treatment.  They are gaining a following among Multiple Sclerosis patients who are well aware of their exploits.  Both Preston and Richard have become  role models for others suffering from Multiple Sclerosis

And now, Preston was featured on his local Fort Worth/Dallas Television Station:

In 2001, Walker was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, suffered from chronic fatigue, and began losing the use of his legs.

"I felt like my cognition was declining at a rapid pace," Walker said. "I really felt at the end of last year that I wouldn't be employed any longer because the cognition just wasn't there."

That feeling changed after his Adult Stem Cell therapy in Costa Rica:

For the first time ever, doctors took samples of their fat, drew stem cells from it, and reinjected it.  By the second injection the results were obvious.  The men had more energy than they'd had in years.  By the end of the treatment Humphries no longer needed a cane to walk.

The fatigue and leg problems were a thing of the past for Walker.  "I don't suffer from any of those symptoms we talked about," he said.  "The depression, the fatigue, the cognitive cloud¦ I mean it will still raise its ugly head occasionally, but it's nowhere near everyday and every moment of everyday like it was."

And hearing about Preston's story is nice enough but read this part too:

Humphries admits there were risks in being test patients for the treatment.  "If we or somebody doesn't become a guinea pig than how can that benefit others?" Humphries asked.

Since their treatment, dozens of others have followed in their footsteps to receive the benefits of stem cell transplants.

The full news story is here.

Preston and Richard's Multiple Sclerosis blog is here.

Marie Surprenant, 3, of Fulton County, Georgia has already suffered more in her young life than most people do in an entire lifetime.   Before she reached the age of 1, Marie was beaten by abusive parents and these awful parents broke many bones in Marie's body and broke her spinal cord too.

After this horrible beating, Marie was taken out of her parents custody and was adopted by Michele Surprenant.  Doctors in Georgia said Marie would never walk again and never be able to stand.  Her new mother didn't accept that answer and searched the globe for alternatives.

She found a place in India where Marie would be treated with her own Adult Stem Cells (Repair Stem Cells).  In another victory for Adult Stem Cell research:


Surprenant and Marie traveled to India, where doctors removed stem cells from her body and then injected them into her spine. The procedure was quick, safe and had almost immediate effects, according to Surprenant.

It™s politics, it™s politics. She™s had no side effects, Surprenant  says of the stem cell injection. The only side effect is that her circulation has improved.

Baker said the changes to Marie after the stem cell injection were stunning. The day after the injection, Marie began to pull herself up on a window ledge.

She™d had never been able to anything like that before, Baker says. Because when she crawled it was just her arms and her legs were dead weight behind her, so for her to be able to get up on her knees was amazing.

I am happy to report that Marie is now standing up and walking (with the help of some braces)

You can read the whole article here

Yet another victory for Adult Stem Cell research.  Not only are Adult Stem Cells healing uncommon diseases that most of us are not familiar with- Repair Stem Cells as I call them can help very common conditions such as Heart Disease, Diabetes, and now we can add broken bones to the list.

I first covered this in August, 2008.  In Australia, patients with broken legs that didn't heal were treated with their own Repair Stem Cells.  For example, Anthony Giancola had suffered a badly broken leg in 2005, that didn't heal after almost 4 years until he had his own stem cells implanted into his leg.  2 weeks after the Repair Stem Cells were implanted into Anthony, he was walking normally again.

Usually, when we break bones in some accident, 80%-85% of the time, with the help of some good doctors, the broken bone heals and we are back to normal in approximately 2 months.  However, in some cases, the bone does not heal properly or does not heal at all.

Such was the case of Loraine Holland, a school teacher in Essex, England.  She broke her leg badly in a sledging accident.  I'm not sure what sledging is, but I understand the broken leg part well enough.  The badly broken leg simply wouldn't heal.  From the article:

The X-rays showed it was broken in two places, but the consultant said it should heal and after two days discharged me. I was in plaster for 14 weeks, first using a wheelchair and then crutches, and went back every four weeks for X-rays.


These showed the bone wasn™t knitting together and no one could understand why.


A CT scan showed there was a good blood supply to the bone, and I was young and healthy, but my leg just wouldn™t heal.

So my consultant referred me to the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District Hospital in Oswestry, where they were pioneering the treatment.


I saw Professor James Richardson 11 months after my accident. He told me that stem cells, which are found in the bone marrow, act like the body™s own building blocks and could help me grow new bone around my fracture.

It worked- Four months after the operation, I was finally able to walk normally - it felt amazing. I was able to work and be an active mum again.

I urge you to read this whole article in full as it covers the stem cell procedure in detail.  At the end, it says the treatment can be done on a private patient basis and  costs around 7,000 pounds- about $10,000 US dollars.  So if you or someone you know has a broken leg that hasn't healed- perhaps you may wish to look up -Professor James Richardson is consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District Hospital in Oswestry. It may very well be worth a holiday in England.

A couple of days ago, I posted about a young boy, Xavier Carballo who has made tremendous improvements since going to China to treat his Optic Nerve Hypoplasia with Adult Stem Cells (aka Repair Stem Cells).  I hoped we would see plenty more stories like Xavier's and it seems like I got my wish.

Today, I have a young girl.  Her name is  Hayley Pelletier, 8, from Elmwood Park (near Chicago).  Same as Xavier, suffering from Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, a disease in which the optic nerve fails to develop leaving the child blind when they are born (and never improving).  Until Repair Stem Cells, there was NO treatment for it- nothing the doctors could do to help.

She just returned to Elmwood Park on December 19, so the total results aren't in yet, but Hayley's mother is already reporting some improvement:

Hayley said there has been improvement, according to Heather.

"Her left eye was really no good," Heather said. "It sees light and dark only. She was reporting she sees color and movement in the left eye."

In addition, said Heather, Hayley is more aware of what's around her.

"If there's a laptop within three to four feet of her, she knows it is a laptop," Heather said. "That's huge."

And usually the Adult Stem Cells continue improving these patients over a period of months so hopefully Hayley will improve even more.

So, here is my list of Optic Nerve Hypoplasia patients who have improved significantly after going to China for stem cell treatment - Rylea Barlett, Savannah Watring, Cody Fend, Cameron Petersen, Xavier Carballo, and now Hayley Pelletier.  Again, I wish to keep adding to the list and if you readers know of a story that I missed- let me know!

For more information on this stem cell treatment for Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, please email Dr. Kara Zhang- the medical director of Beike Biotech, the company in China that is responsible for all of these miracles.  Her email is  dr.zhang@beikebiotech.com

Adult Stem Cell research has made tremendous strides recently, now treating more than 100 different conditions/diseases. It looks like we can now add one more disease to our list.  I am happy to announce that Adult Stem Cells (aka Repair Stem Cells) have been used to help a young boy suffering from Niemann Pick Type C.

This is a congenital disease in which the body cannot break down cholesterol and lipids.  This leads to seizures and neurological deterioration.  Also known as Childhood's Alzheimers, this terrible disease usually leads to the child's death.

Aaditya, 8. a young boy in India was one such child suffering from Niemann Pick Type C.  After searching everywhere (including the United States) for some type of treatment for this disease, Aaditya's family found there was no conventional treatment.

Luckily for the child, his family and doctors were very proactive.  Not willing to accept a death sentence, Dr. N.K. Venkataramana, Vice Chairman & Chief Neurosurgeon of  BGS Global Hospital, Bangalore went before the ethics committee of his hospital and made the presentation of the stem cell procedure that would hopefully save Aaditya's life-

Aaditya has recovered significantly after the stem cell transplant therapy. Now, his gaze shifts when people move in his bedroom, his head does not droop and the fingers of his right hand move to touch soft toys placed next to him. He could not do any of these earlier.

The child™s deterioration has stopped and there™s some improvement (following the surgery). Next, he has to become active, but we cannot say how long it will take (for him to recover completely), said Dr Venkataramana.

His recovery will bring cheer not only to his kin, but also to those in various corners of the world suffering from this disease.

I hope so.  What did this child have to lose?  If this child was born in the United States, probably he would have just been given medication to minimize his suffering for the rest of his (short?) life.  Now that we have Repair Stem Cells, we can use them to help people such as Aaditya.  We have the greatest medicine in the history of mankind- Adult Stem Cells at our fingertips and we are failing to use it- not just for Niemann-Pick, but for countless other conditions and diseases.   Aaditya was one of the lucky few in that respect, there are millions of others who aren't so lucky and thus are sentenced to suffering and/or death.

Here is the great article about Aaditya

I am happy to feature yet another young child who can see for the first time thanks to Adult Stem Cell research and Adult (Repair) Stem Cells.
Before Repair Stem Cells, Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH), the failure of the optic nerve to develop leaving the child blind, was untreatable- there was nothing conventional medicine or doctors could do to help. Absolutely nothing- until doctors in China started using Repair Stem Cells to help blind children see for the first time.
I have featured Rylea Bartlett, Savannah Watring, Cody Fend,and Cameron Petersen among many who can see for the first time after going to China for Repair Stem Cell treatment.  And today, I have a new boy- Xavier Carballo to add to the list- may the list continue to grow in this new year of 2009.

The title of this article I found in Lakeland, Florida's newspaper- The Ledger  is  'No Regrets for Boy's Experimental Stem Cell Treatment in China' The title is ridiculous and is an early frontrunner for 2009's understatement of the year:

Cindy Carballo said her son has shown significant improvements in vision since he was treated this fall at a hospital in Qingdao, China.

"He has improved dramatically," said Cindy Carballo, 23. "We just keep seeing more and more differences in him, as far as balance, coordination and understanding even of conversation. He's way more independent than he used to be. He's so happy; we're happy."

"No regrets" of her son, the greatest love in her life, making great strides in development and in his eye sight?  And I bet the New York Giants had "no regrets' after winning the Super Bowl last year.  I'm also guessing Michael Phelps had "no regrets" after winning 8 gold medals in Beijing.   However, the important thing is Xavier and his parents are happy- what a great way to start 2009!

Maybe after reading this you are saying to yourself "that is the mother, of course she is hoping for improvement, she just flew to China and spent $30,000,"   Ok, well here is what Xavier's doctor had to say-

Xavier's ophthalmologist, Dr. Jack Guggino of Tampa, said he did a baseline exam on the boy before the trip to China and after his return. He said before the treatment Xavier could only detect hand motion at 1 to 2 feet, and after the treatment he could count fingers at 3 to 4 feet.

"As far as Xavier is concerned, there has been definite and measurable improvement, neurologically and ophthalmologically," Guggino said.

For more information on stem cell treatment in China for Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, you can contact the Beike Biotech (the company responsible for the treatment)  medical director, Dr. Kara Zhang at her email-  dr.zhang@beikebiotech.com

As I finish up this post, Xavier's mother had one more thing to say " "I didn't really have much hesitation," Carballo said. "It's a cure, and you want to go get it. It's not really much of a choice. It's a shame we've got to spend $4,000 or $5,000 just for plane tickets to get our kids treatment."

The goal of the Repair Stem Cell Institute and this blog is to make it so people like Xavier Carballo's mother don't have to go to China to get this simple treatment with no side effects and only upside.  The goal is to make it available here in the United States!