StemCellsChina would like to thank Tessie for writing this Patient Experience for us.

Traumatic Brain Injury  
39, USA

Check out Earl's video on Vimeo here or click on the picture below.

Condition

Two years ago, Earl was in a motorcycle accident during which he suffered a traumatic brain injury. After being in a coma for three months and in a vegetative state for a month, Earl thankfully came back to his family. But because of his injury, he was functioning at a highly impaired state. His wife Tessi Anduha describes what it was like when he first got back from the hospital: "It was a really slow process. He'd open his eyes and wouldn't respond to anything, just look around. Then he started saying little sounds about a month after coming out of his coma, smiling, but not recognizing anybody. It took him a while to regain his memory as far as identifying people."

Because his injury was on the right side of his brain, he has severe problems involving motor control on the left side of his body. He sometimes "kind of forgets he has a left side of his body," so he has to focus all his concentration in order to coordinate his movements.

At the time of their trip to China Earl's progress had plateaued, he still had great difficulty controlling movements on the left side of his body, and therefore had trouble with most gross motor movements such as balance and walking. His fine motor movements were also impaired, for example, he could not write his own name and had difficulty controlling small objects.

Furthermore, his concentration and cognition were affected. He had difficulty reading because he could not focus his eyes long enough to read all the words in a complete sentence. His long term memory was poor and he would only have conversations about things that were presently in his attention.

Reason for Coming for Treatment

After coming out of the coma, and receiving a month of physical therapy, Earl was sent home from the hospital. Tessi stated the doctors told her "there is nothing they can do for us. Just take him home and take care of him in the best way that we could. They said it may take 10 years or we may never see any progress."

Before the accident, Earl was a believer in the potential power of stem cell treatments. He and his wife had banked their daughters umbilical cord blood when she was born. Unfortunately they were unable to use the stored cord blood to treat Earl.

However, Tessi had not given up the search for new treatment options that would improve Earl's quality of life. She found out about stem cell treatments being offered in China through the internet, and after reading about other patients' experiences here, she decided to to make the trip with Earl for treatment.

Treatment in China

Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Transplants, Cord Serum combined with Acupuncture and Rehabilitation Therapy.

Condition After Treatment

After spending a month in China receiving stem cell treatment, Earl had already seen significant changes in his condition. One of the first new things he was able to do was put on his shoes by himself. Tessi said, 
 
"When he put on his shoes for the first time... You know my back hurts from bending over and putting on his shoes, so it was like, i was celebrating! Every body thought I was weird because I kept saying, 'He put on his shoe!'  But, then i know his trunk is getting stronger because he is balancing himself to put on his shoe. That is a big hill to climb in our daily living tasks."

Besides improvements in balance and trunk strength, Earl's fine motor skills improved to the point where he was able to eat with chop sticks and write his own name.

His cognitive abilities also improved during his time in China, especially his memory, as his wife said, 

"He is beginning to memorize more. Things from his past he is able to bring up to me. We can actually make conversation now. Before it was just what he could see was what he would talk about, but now he will dig deep into his memory and we will have a conversation. Which is what I missed. He is coming back to me."