" He’s making more eye contact, and initiating the eye contact himself. He’ll come to me wanting things. Normally he would just walk around in circles and get anxious and upset, and I’d have to work it out. But now he’s coming to me. "
Subtitled interview and surgery video from Jeff Crowe's stem cell transplants via lumbar puncture. Shot in Qingdao, China. Play the video by clicking the Start button on the image above. Included home videos courtesy of the Crowe family.
At the age of 33, Jeff was diagnosed with Ataxia SCA-1, an hereditary form of the disease.
Condition Prior to Treatment
Prior to coming for treatment in 2008, Jeff had lost many of his gross motor functions. His wife Leslie said, "He couldn't write anymore… I mean everything was just getting too much for him." Jeff said, "I couldn't walk up the stairs anymore without a lot of assistance. Had the double vision, couldn't write well, couldn't talk."
Treatment in China
Jeff went to China for adult stem cell treatments in the summer of 2008. He returned for a second round of treatments in the summer of 2010. During his second treatment, he received 8 umbilical cord blood stem cell packets via IV and lumbar puncture.
Condition Following Treatment
During Jeff's treatment in 2008, he says, "It was like immediately. I mean one or two treatments. And I was just a different person." Jeff says, "I could stand… on one foot. I couldn't do that before. I couldn't even raise my foot off the ground." Jeff's wife Leslie said, "His double vision was gone. He was able to see at a distance. He was able to read up close."
Jeff's improvements stayed for approximately a year and a half before he regressed to his previous state. He decided to return to China for a second round of therapy in 2010.
During Jeff's treatment in 2010, he said, "This time, more fine motor than gross motor… This time, I've felt like I can just do small things a lot easier than I could before. Brushing my teeth and picking little things up… the vision is vastly improved."
Leslie said, "We don't know for sure if this is helping the length of his life. But it's obvious it helps his quality of life."
