Posted on 09/12/2008 10:17:09 AM PDT by neverdem
With a nearly paralyzed right side, Chloe Levine was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 1. A year later, she can say her nickname and is walking normally and jumping on beds.
With one simple word from the back seat of a car cruising between North Carolina and New York, 2-year-old Chloe Levine signaled a great leap forward.
"Coco," the Colorado toddler said, uttering her nickname for the first time.
Those two syllables marked a milestone in stem-cell therapy, helping prove that infusing a baby with its own stem cells can repair a brain ravaged by cerebral palsy.
Before a one-time treatment at Duke University in May, Chloe had speech problems, and the right side of her body was nearly paralyzed. Now she's jumping off beds, applying doll barrettes with her right hand and learning new words every day. The Duke experiments expand again the remarkable range of bodily failures that stem cells can repair.
But even more, the word "Coco" made a mom and dad ecstatic. For Jenny Levine, Chloe's recovery is equal parts science, magic and miracle.
"It's like somebody unlocked the door on her personality, and it just charged through," said Jenny, as Chloe and her 4-year-old sister, Shayla, thumped and squealed from bed to floor in a room upstairs. In between jumps, Chloe used her relaxed right hand — which for two straight years had been balled up in a nearly useless fist — to turn up the volume on a "Barney" episode.
Just two days after Chloe's stem-cell infusion, "things started happening that she could never do before, and we finally let ourselves stop thinking it was a coincidence," Levine said.
"It's exciting," said Dr...
(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...
Whoa! This is amazing. I wonder how the results will be as it is applied to older and older patients.
Regenerative medicine ping! Duke needs to release its numbers and case reports. A mother’s anxiety translated into a near miracle.
Note how it is titled “Stem Cells”.
And how when the libs want research, they say “Stem Cell Research”
We know the difference. Not from embryos but from her own cord blood.
I have my children’s baby teeth frozen for the same reason. What is in those could help them one day.
Realize that umbilical cord blood contains what are called “adult” stem cells, as opposed to embryonic stem cells which come from destroyed embryos and, to my knowledge, have provided ZERO results.
Sarah Palin should reference this story as an answer to Biden’s “stem cell” jab at her.
The simple theme is, “I fully support the kind of stem cell research and therapies that WORK, not the false, politically driven “research” that devalues life, raises false hopes among the afflicted, and has NEVER produced a positive outcome for a single patient.”
neverdem: THANKS for posting this!
steve0113: ping
Interesting...
I am sure they will when the study is completed. This child has only moderate damage due to cerebral palsy and would see improvement more quickly than other children might. Others may also require more treatments.
I would rather Duke do all the testing and analysis before releasing more info and possibly giving a false hope to parents.
Earlier embryonic stem cell studies indicated that in most cases, not all, some form of cancer developed in the recipient. Does this risk disappear when the stem cell comes from the blood extracted from the umbilical cord blood of the newborns? In this case Chloe was using her own stem cells.
Duke does not address this concern in this case study or the author fails to address it?
I would rather Duke do all the testing and analysis before releasing more info and possibly giving a false hope to parents.
Preliminary results are released all the time. If parents have the foresight, more can have this therapy for perinatal complications like cerebral palsy(CP).
One of my best friends has a permanent left hemiparesis and spasticity from CP. His sister, a fraternal twin, was mentally retarded. He had to have at least one operation to release tendons. His limited mobility may have contributed to being struck by cars twice as a kid. Besides all of the medical bills, the car accidents caused him to repeat two years of school.
They've provided results. Cancer.
It appears the immoral thing (embryonic stem cell research) leads to death, while the moral thing (adult stem cell research) potentially leads to life.
Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.