" It just all adds up to make me feel more confident in walking abilities and stuff like that. Walking in crowds, and before you start to panic when you get in a crowd cause like kids would cross in front of you, and I couldn’t stop and would crash into them and stuff like that. I feel like I can at least stop or walk around them and stuff like that so. "
In 2007 Mia was Diagnosed with Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS), a neuromuscular disease similar to ALS. PLS occurs when the upper motor neurons start to degenerate for unknown reasons. Individuals with PLA suffer from problems with balance, speaking and coordination. The progression of symptoms varies between patients.
In Mia's case, she suffered from difficulties in walking, speaking and she was often fatigued. She explains how this affected her quality of life and her ability to continue to work as a teacher saying "My speech was very very garbled. I sounded like I was drunk. At the end of the school year I had to use a microphone during the end of the day, because I could no longer project my voice, because the muscles in my throat were so tried. My legs were very stiff, my muscles were just so tight and fatigued. It was all I could do to get up, go to work, get home and then I was just dead.
I had no energy. I was falling frequently, which resulted in a broken wrist and dislocated shoulder. I just had no balance. I was deeply depressed over it all. My life seemed hopeless, at the time I was 43 years old and I had created this great life and now I wasn't even able to live it." Mia found that none of the treatment options offered to her in the United States were effective in alleviating these symptoms. While researching alternatives, she discovered that stem cell treatment was available in China. After talking with other patients who had made the trip, she decided to take the next step and in June, 2009 came to Qingdao, China.
Treatment in China
Mia has come to China twice for stem cell treatment. Both times she received adult stem cell injections. She also received acupuncture, physical therapy and occupational therapy.
Condition After Treatment
While in China and soon after she returned home, Mia and the people around her noticed a change in her speaking ability. As she describes in the video, "I think my speech got better in Qingdao. My mom travelled over three weeks into my treatment and she noticed it right away. The first day I went back to school, which was August 1st [2009], all of my colleagues could not believe the change in my voice. My former students came back, and they said, you know it used to sound like all your words just got caught in your throat, and now everything is flowing. My students that I had in August and even into October, when I was be speaking, somebody would always say 'I can not believe how clear your voice is.' So it just continued to get better."
Her balance, walking and energy levels also improved.
"My balance got better and I was able to walk without getting so fatigued. I had a life outside of my job which I hadn't had for a couple of years. Because I had the energy...
"I had the energy to be able to cook dinner and do laundry when I got home from work. Which I couldn't have done just a couple years prior...
"This past school year, I had the best year I have ever had at my school. It was my 10th year of teaching and there was just a rhythm, there was just a flow with my kids. I was feeling good and everything just worked."
In June, 2010, Mia came back to China for another round of stem cell treatment in Nanjing.
