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| Stem Cell Injections Helping East Troy Girl Cope With Gene Disorder |
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| Glut IDS | |||
| Vendredi, 06 Avril 2007 08:00 | |||
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There are no translations available. Source: Gazette Xtra By Mike Heine HANGZHOU, CHINA-Miracles can happen. Brooke Barels is proof, her mother says. Brooke suffers from glucose transporter deficiency (GLUT-1), a spontaneous gene mutation that leaves her with cerebral palsy-like symptoms and delayed brain development. Speech for Brooke is difficult and limited to strings of up to three words. She can't yet walk on her own, and standing without holding onto something is a challenge. But it wasn't long after a third injection of stem cells on the 20th floor of a hospital in Hangzhou, China, that something happened. Brooke, without provocation, began saying words she's heard thousands of times but had never uttered herself. Her mom, Vicki, and aunt Cindy Toman, who took 9-year-old Brooke from rural East Troy to China last month, were in disbelief. "Cindy and I looked at each other and it's like, 'Oh my God! Did you just hear that?'" Vicki said Thursday, a few days after flying back to the United States. "I knew it wasn't in my head. Cindy was there with me. "Brooke's sounds were more clear, and her words are more crisp." Brooke received six stem cell injections containing about 60 million stem cells developed from the umbilical cord blood of Chinese babies. It's a procedure unavailable in the United States. The Barels family hopes Brooke will see improvement with her motor skills, cognitive processes and physical abilities. Doctors said most of the improvements would come in two to six months. But Brooke decided not to wait. Another small miracle happened Thursday at the Barels home. Brooke looked out her bedroom window and said "ball" and "dog," pronouncing the end sounds of both words. Previously, she would have only said "ba" and "da." "That was so big," said an excited Beth Small, Brooke's twice-a-week in-home healthcare aid. "She never would have said that before. She's more alert. She pointed to the ball and said, 'ball.' "You just see it in here eyes that there's more going on in there. It's so exciting." Vicki and Cindy witnessed Brooke's first breakthrough. Brooke, a big fan of ice cream, "All of a sudden started saying, 'Good ice, Mom,' Spontaneously," Vicki said. "We didn't have to try to get her to say, 'good ice.' Or have to model or cue her or have to repeat it over and over. She was just out with it. 'Good ice, mom.' That's a big improvement for her." Vicki knows the improvements will come slowly, but that's all they want-an improved life for Brooke. The family believes the stem cell injections are safe and that Brooke will never regress. The injections have shown improvements in hundreds of cerebral palsy patients, and few have shown ill effects, Vicki said. "I'm trying to be realistic about it," Vicki said. "I'd love for independent walking, but I'm hoping for improvement in areas where she's more lacking. But we'd welcome any positive change." Brooke is active and can walk with a walker and climb stairs with help. She even stood and touched her toes three times in a row, also a new miracle. It's cognitive development where the Barels are hoping for the most improvement. Hopefully, "it makes it possible to learn at a quicker pace," Vicki said. "She has the ability to learn, but it's such a slow progression of development. It'd be great for her to be able to speed up that process, the thinking process, the memory." The stem cells will not cure the genetic mutation. But it appears already that the stem cells have helped. Vicki hopes other families and American doctors will see the progress her daughter has made and will push for approving more stem cell therapies in the United States. "Now that we've been to China and I see the possibilities and I've seen the patients that are feeling better and doing better and heard the stories about patients who have come and gone from china and are just improving every day, I'm in more of a position now to say I would be more of an advocate," Vicki said. "If Brook is living proof that this could help kids and disorders, I would want to do nothing but spread the word of awareness and play a role in making it possible for more kids."
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