REASON FOR COMING TO TREATMENT: Maria was diagnosed with autism at one year and three months. Her mother Gabriela first noticed that her daughter was developmentally delayed when she was six months old. After continuing to miss the normal developmental milestones, she was finally diagnosed with a brain injury complicated by Autism. Her mother continued to take Maria to the hospital for check ups which included regular physical therapy. At 2 years old she was given an orthopedic shoe to assist in her walking. Despite slight improvements in her physical abilities, Maria’s main deficiencies in communication and learning remained unaltered. After hearing of stem cell treatments in China from other families in her country, Gabriela determined that they would be the best course of action for her daughter.
TREATMENT: Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Transplants, Cord Serum and Nerve Growth Factor combined with Rehabilitation Therapy.
START OF TREATMENT: March 4th, 2008
See Maria's clips combined and subtitled into one video (and streaming) on Vimeo and YouTube.
Maria's mental and cognative inabilities were most problematic to her development. Specifically, her major problems were in learning, social interaction and communication. She was unable to follow one-step instructional orders such as 'come here' or 'point to the bottle'. She was unable to speak even a single word and her mother felt that she only reacted to about 20 – 30% of her environment. She was unable to learn even very simple things such as the names of her family and the word 'mama'. When strangers came near her she would either not acknowledge their presence or she would become very agitated and occasionally throw violent fits. Exhibiting extreme sensitivity to the texture of food, she would consume a limited variety,struggled to chew thoroughly and had a very poor appetite. She weighed only 11.5Kg at the age of 5. She would habitually and impulsively stimulate herself by playing with her fingers, sucking on them and licking her hands. Walking was also difficult, though a result of other indeficiencies and not linked to her autism.
DURING TREATMENT: Maria’s appetite began to improve and her food intake increased. Working with an cccupational therapist on a daily basis, she began to learn shapes, fruits and colors and was able to point to them accurately when asked to identify a certain one. Her overall demeanor and interactions with others also began to improve.
AFTER THE TREATMENT: After receiving four IV stem cell transfusions, Maria made impressive progress. In combinaion with daily physical therapy, her ability to walk has substantially improved. Socially she became substiantially more relaxed in the presence of strangers and was increasingly more amiable in her interactions with them. The regularity of her hostile outbreaks dramatically decreased. Her attention span has increased, improving her capacity to learn. She has also developed the ability to follow one step instructions. With the help of therapists in China, she is now starting to learn simple concepts such as the names of colors. She has also started vocalizing more, and trying to talk with her mother. In addition to these changes, her appetite has improved and she is able to eat a more varied diet. Her mother was excited by these changes and could not wait to get home and continue teaching her daughter new things. FOLLOWING TREATMENT: We received word from Maria’s mother, Gabriela, just weeks after she returned home thanking Beike and the staff for all that they had given to her daughter. Maria has continued to improve and Gabriela has already begun making plans to bring her daughter back to China for another round of treatments in August of 2008.
Maria's mom talking about her experience
Maria learning about numbers and colors
Below is the mother's letter:
I have a great pleasure in announcing to you that our experience from China was a wonderful trip not only for me but also for Maria including her treatment.
I start to tell you that before the first treatment, Maria was a child that saw the entire world from her own inner space. Her modalities of communication with the world surrounding her were minimal.
Her desires, communications, interactions and sensations were very hard to understand.
Before first treatment Maria spit a lot but now she spits less than before. Before treatment she was not embarrassed by her diaper but now she try's to close off it and seems to be embarrassed by it if it is dirty. She was not so sociable like now and now, after treatment, wants to play with everybody. She is more present in reality and can conduct herself more like a normal child. She is also now trying to spell names. She pronounced for the first time "Mamy'' while she was in China. She, in China, learned to step off stairs and lift on her body from down without help of anybody. She understands now what we are talking about more than ever before. All these things happened in China, just two weeks form the start of treatment.
