" 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. "
NAME: Audrey Jones - The Former Lord Mayor of Manchester
AGE: 75
COUNTRY: Great Britain
DIAGNOSIS: Progressive idiopathic cerebellar syndrome with atrophy
REASON FOR COMING TO TREATMENT: At the age of 75 Audrey Jones has had a full life that has included many successful undertakings including the partial ownership of one of Manchester’s leading newspapers, authoring a book detailing the experiences of children during World War Two and working as a governmental representative in her home city of Manchester for nearly 30 years. Her hard work and dedication accumulated in her appointment by The Queen of England to the post Lord Mayor of Manchester in 2003. It was during her term as Lord Mayor that Audrey began to realize that something was “not quite right” with her balance and ability to walk. The formerly energetic woman had always lead an extremely active life both at home and in her work as well as in the community was becoming easily tired and having increasing difficulty walking. Though she resolutely continued on with her duties as Lord Mayor, she required much assistance from her two now constant attendants in order to do everyday things, maintain her work load and to simply walk up stairs. It was during her term as Lord Mayor that she was officially diagnosed by a renowned specialist in England with Cerebellar Atrophy who conveyed to her that her symptoms would only continue to worsen through time with the progression of this disorder to being confined to a wheel chair and ultimately end in her death. The specialist also informed Audrey that there were no treatments options available to her. He said to her that her “only hope would be stem cell research but that it would not be available during her life time”. This of course left her in a void of depression and sadness. Not willing to give up so easily her daughter began to research her mother’s condition looking for any viable treatments that might be available outside of England.
See Audrey's clips combined and subtitled into one video (and streaming) on Vimeo and YouTube.
Eventually she found what she was looking for in a news story about a man in Scotland with a similar condition, who had gone for stem cell treatments in China. Once getting in contact with him to confirm his improvements, Audrey and her family “seized the opportunity” and plans for her and her husband to travel to China were immediately set in motion.
TREATMENT: Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Transplants, Cord Serum and Nerve Growth Factor combined with Acupuncture and Rehabilitation Therapy.
TREATMENT BEGAN: January 10th, 2008
LOCATION: Beike's facility at Chengyang People's Hospital, Qingdao
BEFORE THE TREATMENT: In the months leading to her arrival in China, the patient's condition had deteriorated to the extent that she was unable to walk without considerable support. This had left her wheelchair bound, though with great concentration she was independently mobile (see videos 'Walking without help' and 'Walking over blocks' from the start of treatment). Her ability to balance was severely compromised, even on two feet. She suffered bouts of extreme fatigue during which some of her symptoms were more pronounced. Despite her condition, she continued to work and required constant assistance.
AFTER THE TREATMENT: Increased muscle control in the legs gave the patient a considerably steadier and more fluent walk - specifically, her feet were closer together and toes pointed forward (smaller base profile and higher center of gravity indicating a definite and dramatic improvement in balance). By the second treatment, she could climb a short staircase independently. The length of time she could maintain prolonged activity without becoming fatigued increased. As treatment progressed, the patient's walk improved to the extent that she began to go for walks outside of hospital, accompanied by her husband. Initially the length of time was between 5-10 minutes but by the end of treatment the time had increased to 25-30 minutes, and the patient could use her wheelchair as a walking frame after exerting herself fully.
