Carron Morrow, a 58-year mother of two, was on a heart-transplant waiting list after she suffered a massive heart attack last year while hanging up lanterns for an outdoor event. She discovered afterwards that her heart was functioning at less than fifty percent of its normal level. Morrow was devastated by the worsening condition that made it impossible for her to walk without support. In the midst of this very bleak situation, however, Morrow and her church community started praying for her life.
Desperate for any option that might offer hope, Morrow offered to join a groundbreaking new study on adult stem cell therapy that was about to be conducted at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston. She was one of 30 participants, only 20 of whom actually received the treatment.
The Food and Drug administration had not approved the surgery, but she stated, "My next choice was just to drop dead, so I signed everything and had full confidence in that group."
During the surgery, which took place on October 16, 2006, Morrow's birthday, the doctors cut out bone marrow cells from her hip, cultivated them for approximately four hours and then injected them into the crippled area of her heart.
Not long after the surgery, Morrow began to feel her old strength returning. "I knew within two months something was going on," Morrow says. "I could sing a whole song at church." She soon returned to her job as an event planner, and less than a year after the operation, she was overjoyed to receive the news that her heart was functioning normally again.
Referring to the stem cell debate, Morrow stated, "I told the doctor, 'I don't understand why we have this huge political mess going on about stem cells. I'm living proof that adult stem cells work far better than embryonic. And why should embryonic even be in discussion?"
"I'm here to say, 'I'm living proof. It saved my life.'"
Previously, Morrow needed an $85,000 defibrillator, but this is useless to her now. The stem cell culture on the other hand cost her less than $600.
Research involving adult stem cells has resulted in a whole list of successful cases where the cells have been used to help cure or alleviate the symptoms of diseases such as Alzheimer's, blindness and heart disease. 33-year old Edjuana Ross in Florida, for example, was suffering from a potentially fatal case of Lupus, and, like Morrow, she offered to participate in a study that involved adult stem cell research. One of 48 participants who received the treatment, she was treated with adult stem cells transplanted from her bone marrow. After suffering for years from diabetes and other serious side effects of the disease, Ross reported that all the symptoms disappeared after the surgery (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/06020206.html).
Embryonic stem cell research, on the other hand, has yet to provide a single positive medical result. In fact, embryonic stem cells are consistently found to create additional problems such as rejection by the body's immune system. In addition, the rapid proliferation of embryonic stem cells quickly leads to the growth of threatening cancer tumors.
Despite these facts, however, major research societies continue to promote embryonic stem cell research, ignoring the grave ethical problems with the research. These include Juvenile Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, the Alzheimer Society of Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society and more recently, the Huntington Society (for the full list of Canadian charities that support embryonic stem cell research see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/sep/060918a.html).
Read full CitizenLink report on Carron Morrow:
http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000005149.cfm
Embryonic Stem Cell Therapies to Cure Disease is "Pure Folly", Says MIT Prof
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05121209.html
Adult Stem Cell Discoveries Could Treat Alzheimer's and Blindness
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05021405.html
Why Embryonic Stem Cell Research? It's About Human Engineering, Not Ending Disease
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/may/06050902.html
