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Don Ho celebrates 76th birthday(big adult stem cell success story)
KHON2-TV, Honolulu ^ | 8/14/2006 | Kirk Mathews

Posted on 08/16/2006 1:39:25 PM PDT by Neville72

The Waikiki icon posed and laughed with fans who lined up by the dozens. This is the same Don Ho who just nine months ago went through experimental stem cell therapy for his heart. At the time, doctors said his heart was operating at 20 percent capacity - - and failing.

Don Ho says, "I just had to go to Bangkok to get stem cells injected in my heart because they don't do it in America and it was the only thing that possibly could have helped me."

He continues his campaign to get the stem cell therapy accepted in the U.S.

Many of these fans are seeing Don Ho for the first time.

Fan Don Estes says, "well, we were in Hawaii and if you're going to be in Hawaii, you have to see Don Ho."

Fan Mark Whitmore says, "we're here on our honeymoon and my parents saw him on their honeymoon. So we decided, since we're in Hawaii, we'd come."

Fan Jessica Willis says, "well, I figured while I was here, I couldn't miss the master. So I'm excited for the show tonight."

Part of Don's recovery therapy is doing what he loves to do - surrounding himself with young people - - and enjoying the laughter they bring.

Earlier, during our brief conversation, an attractive young lady passed by. Some things never change.

"You seem pretty fit," Kirk Matthews asked.

Don Ho said, "Pretty good. As long as I'm on my back, I'm okay."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: adultstemcell; donho; happybirthday; prolife; stemcell; stemcelltherapy
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1 posted on 08/16/2006 1:39:26 PM PDT by Neville72
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To: Neville72

Ummm, did it work?


2 posted on 08/16/2006 1:41:38 PM PDT by Lx (Do you like it, do you like it. Scott? I call it Mr. and Mrs. Tennerman chili.)
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To: Neville72
Don Ho says, "I just had to go to Bangkok to get stem cells injected in my heart because they don't do it in America and it was the only thing that possibly could have helped me."

He continues his campaign to get the stem cell therapy accepted in the U.S.

**************

Here we go again. Mr. Ho, stem cell therapy is accepted in the U.S. It's embryonic stem cell therapy that is controversial.

3 posted on 08/16/2006 1:42:34 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Neville72

tiny bubbles.............


4 posted on 08/16/2006 1:43:15 PM PDT by headstamp (Nothing lasts forever, Unless it does.)
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To: trisham

No it's not. There is no adult stem cell treatment for congestive heart failure of the type he had.


5 posted on 08/16/2006 1:44:18 PM PDT by Neville72 (uist)
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To: Neville72
I just had to go to Bangkok to get stem cells injected in my heart because they don't do it in America

Thailand?!?!?!?!

Sorry....just a little carryover from the JonBenet threads.

6 posted on 08/16/2006 1:46:29 PM PDT by edpc (Violence is ALWAYS a solution. Maybe not the right one....but a solution nonetheless)
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To: edpc

The stem cells from his blood were grown at a lab in Israel and shipped to the facility in Bangkok where they were administered.

They wouldn't do it in the U.S. bcause the FDA hasn't approved it yet.

Here's an article that ran 2 weeks after he had it done:



Don Ho 'Feeling Terrific' Thanks To Stem Cells

(AP) HONOLULU Legendary Hawaiian crooner Don Ho says he could barely walk, let alone sing, and would have been a "goner" without an experimental stem cell procedure on his ailing heart earlier this month in Thailand.

Ho, known for his signature tune "Tiny Bubbles," said he hopes to return to the stage soon.

"I'm feeling terrific, 100 percent better," Ho told The Associated Press in one of his first interviews since surgery Dec. 6. "I'm ready to go, but I've got to listen to the doctors.

"When they say my heart is strong enough to get excited, I'm on."

The 75-year-old singer underwent a new treatment that hasn't been approved in the United States. It involves multiplying stem cells taken from his blood and injecting them into his heart in hopes of strengthening it.

"It was my last hope," said Ho, who suffers from nonischemic cardiomyopathy — a weakened heart muscle not due to blockages in the coronary arteries.

The experimental procedure he underwent was developed by TheraVitae Co., which has offices in Thailand and laboratories in Israel, where Ho's stem cells were sent to be multiplied. The therapy was supervised by Dr. Amit Patel, a heart surgeon from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Ho found out about it on the Internet.

"I knew that if I didn't take things into my own hand, I would've been a goner," he said.

His heart problems had been affecting him for about a year. He had a pacemaker implanted a few months ago, but still felt weak and tired after a few steps. Before the surgery, Ho said, his heart was operating at only 25 percent.

"You can't fight Mother Nature. When you reach a certain age and you don't really take care of yourself, then she's going to give you a little signal," Ho said.

Ho has entertained tourists for more than four decades and hosted the "The Don Ho Show" on ABC in 1976-77.

He said his perspective on life has changed dramatically since the procedure. He now savors all the little things in life, like watching his children decorate the Christmas tree.

He also plans to continue entertaining in Waikiki.


7 posted on 08/16/2006 1:52:51 PM PDT by Neville72 (uist)
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To: Neville72
It involves multiplying stem cells taken from his blood and injecting them into his heart in hopes of strengthening it.

How neat!!

8 posted on 08/16/2006 1:55:00 PM PDT by syriacus (Look for meaning in a democratic slogan and you'll find --- nothing is there.)
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To: Neville72

So at what capacity is his heart working at now?


9 posted on 08/16/2006 2:05:04 PM PDT by Nachum
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To: Neville72; syriacus; sittnick; ninenot; Tax-chick; Convert from ECUSA
N72: Reading lessons are your friends. See the italicized portion of Syriacus's #8 which is a direct quote from the posted article. The stem cells used were Don Ho's very own. If the stem cells of a 75-year-old man are not adult stem cells, just how old must stem cells be to be regarded as "adult stem cells?"

I made the same mistake and wondered about the amorality of the entertainer until I read #8, went back to the posted article and had a restored affection for Don Ho. If he had farmed the cells of a murdered innocent child to prolong a 75-year-old life, I would have despised him and all involved. He did not. May he live a hundred years and as much more as God may grant.

Very promising situation. We have seen here a moral future and it works.

10 posted on 08/16/2006 2:06:13 PM PDT by BlackElk (Dean of Discipline of the Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemen's Club)
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To: Neville72

I knew Don Ho's little sister...Skanky Ho...


11 posted on 08/16/2006 2:08:44 PM PDT by woofer2425 (Kerry LIED)
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To: Nachum

21%.


12 posted on 08/16/2006 2:10:31 PM PDT by Safetgiver (Stinko De mayo, Stinko to the Commies.)
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To: Neville72
At the time, doctors said his heart was operating at 20 percent capacity - - and failing.

So what is his current heart capacity? Presumably better, but what exactly?
13 posted on 08/16/2006 2:10:41 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: Nachum
So at what capacity is his heart working at now?

Don't have a numerical figure but he sings "Tiny Bubbles" every night when before he couldn't walk across a room without being exhausted.

14 posted on 08/16/2006 2:11:06 PM PDT by Neville72 (uist)
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To: Neville72

Correction to #10: I went to your #7 and found the accurate information in the previous article not the posted article.


15 posted on 08/16/2006 2:11:09 PM PDT by BlackElk (Dean of Discipline of the Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemen's Club)
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To: Neville72
They wouldn't do it in the U.S. bcause the FDA hasn't approved it yet.

I don't understand this. Competent, informed adults who can reasonably expect to die soon should be able to sign liability waivers and get any experimental treatment, FDA approved or not.
16 posted on 08/16/2006 2:13:06 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: BlackElk

Here's another recent related article with lots of hope.


Despite Bush Veto, Stem Cell Research Abounds
Kerry A. Dolan, Fortune Magazine
7/20/2006

BURLINGAME, CALIF. - Never mind Wednesday's presidential veto on expanded federal funding of stem cell lines. Stem cell research is alive and well at a host of small companies and academic laboratories in the United States.

In Irvine, Calif., a tiny company called PrimeCell Therapeutics has taken adult stem cells found in testes, reprogrammed them, and created human heart, brain, bone and cartilage cells. This marks a breakthrough in developing what are known as "pluripotent" adult stem cells–cells that can be turned into most other cell types. That pluripotent ability, and the fact that stem cells self-renew, is the main attraction of stem cells from human embryos. One challenge with embryonic stem cells, however, is preventing them from creating tumor cells. So far, the PrimeCell researchers have been able to reprogram the cells they extract from testes without any tumor growth.

Plenty of other firms are active in the stem cell field. Stemnion, a small biotech firm in Pittsburgh, is working on using stem cells found in the placenta for healing wounds. Cellerant Therapeutics of San Carlos, Calif., will soon start a human trial using highly purified adult stem cells found in bone marrow to treat patients with Sickle Cell disease, a genetic blood disorder. Osiris Therapeutics of Baltimore has several trials under way using adult stem cells to treat the intestinal inflammation known as Crohn's disease, repair damaged tissue following a heart attack and prevent the progression of arthritis.

Outside the U.S., adult stem cells have been used to treat patients with Type 2 diabetes in Argentina, heart disease in countries including Germany, Thailand and India, and babies with malformed hearts in Japan. Success rates among these treatments are all at least 68% or higher. For the diabetics treated in Argentina, more than two-thirds were able to stop taking insulin and diabetes medications following the stem cell treatment.

"There's an incredible amount of research and a very large sum of venture capital and private investment going into the field," says Dr. Amit Patel, a cardiac surgeon and director of Cardiac Cell Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Patel has been called by venture capital firms to consult on potential investments. Bush's veto of the stem cell bill on Wednesday "may slow down embryonic stem cell research" adds Patel, but he's optimistic that research will continue nonetheless with private funding. Adult stem cell research will be unaffected.

Patel has pioneered the use of adult stem cells to treat heart disease. He worked with surgeons in Thailand last December to treat Hawaiian singer Don Ho. Ho's own blood-derived adult stem cells were injected into his heart to treat heart failure. Ho's health has improved so much that he has returned to performing.

Patel is particularly impressed with the work done by PrimeCell using what are called "germ line" stem cells–cells that will turn into sperm. Patel says he divides stem cells into thrift-store cells and designer cells. "PrimeCell's cells are like the Prada of cells. They've taken an adult cell and reprogrammed it," he says. "The potential of their cells is incredible." One advantage of these cells is that they do not age as a human ages.

A group of German researchers replicated PrimeCell's proof of concept in mice, and published the results in Nature in March. But PrimeCell appears to be ahead of the German team because it's already moved from mice to human cells. PrimeCell has $10 million in private funding from two sources: an unnamed investor and Thomas Yuen, chairman and chief executive of PrimeCell's parent company, PrimeGen.

Large pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ) and Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ) have so far steered clear of stem cell therapy. For historical reasons, Novartis (nyse: NVS - news - people ) owns a small stake in Cellerant. Big pharma "is letting the smaller companies work and realize the potential. Now is the time for small, nimble entities," says Dr. Hans Keirstead, an associate professor at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at the University of California at Irvine.


17 posted on 08/16/2006 2:17:26 PM PDT by Neville72 (uist)
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To: Neville72

Thank you for your post. I am willing to bet that many more people will have to go that route before the FDA and it's Big Pharma masters allow anything like it here because it will affect their bottom line.


18 posted on 08/16/2006 2:17:28 PM PDT by Spirited
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To: Spirited

Tulane University will start human trials this fall on diabetes patients;

Here's a related article:

Adult Stem Cells Possible Solution for Diabetes

Been a while since we have dug into stem cells and diabetes related research. Seems suitable then to find this latest article discussing adult stem cells in the pancreas that can be transformed into insulin-producing cells.

Researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the Rebecca and John Moores Cancer Center at the University of California at San Diego have discovered that endocrine progenitor stem cells in the adult human pancreas may be key to developing new treatments for diabetes.

The findings from the research team is to published in the March 1 edition of Nature Medicine.

Fred Levine, the adjunct professor at Burnham stated "We hypothesized that the inductive factors in developing pancreatic cells might work on cells in the adult pancreas and that turned out to be true."

"We have shown, in as rigorous a manner as possible, proof-of-concept for the existence of progenitor stem insulin-producing cells within the adult human pancreas. Our proven ability to transform these progenitor stem cells into insulin-producing cells greatly expands the possibility that beta cell regeneration therapies can be developed for the treatment of diabetes," he said.

As we know, Type 1 and Type 2 forms of diabetes are generally caused by the loss of insulin-producing cells, also known as beta cells.

In this study, researchers developed adult human pancreatic cells which were incapable of producing insulin. These cells they called "non-endocrine pancreatic epithelial cells", or NEPECS. They then combined in a culture the endocrine progenitor cells that produced insulin, and reimplanted them back into mice to determine if new insulin was produced.

The NEPECS then became insulin-producing beta cells.




19 posted on 08/16/2006 2:30:37 PM PDT by Neville72 (uist)
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To: Neville72
No it's not. There is no adult stem cell treatment for congestive heart failure of the type he had.

*************

I'm sorry, but I think you may have misunderstood my post.

20 posted on 08/16/2006 2:33:50 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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