Before seeking out Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Kathy Hammons could barely care for her children as a result of the effects of lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks itself. She had been on oxygen for two years, was constantly fatigued, and was overweight from the steroids used to control her disease. "I would say before this option, they [lupus patients] hit a brick wall," Burt said. "They had nothing more, no further treatments." Burt's pioneering research, however, offered a new option. His breakthrough procedure uses a patient's stem cells to treat extremely severe cases...