Here is a letter I wrote a while back to a company that does stem cell therapy and makes a lot of claims of false hope among the paralyzed. If anyone on the list has a different opinion, I would LOVE to hear it!
******************* Asterias scientists: As the wife of a man with a C3 cervical spinal cord injury, I read your claims of research with stem cells with a great amount of hope - until I learned that these stem cells were administered within 30 days of injury. My husband didn't move a thing for three months after his injury and then slowly started recovering function from an incomplete injury thereafter. But because the level of mobility experienced by a spinal cord injury patient is UNKNOWN and cannot be predicted, how do you know that stem cells were responsible for the mobility recovered? Many incomplete patients make a full recovery when SCI is severe, while others recover little to no function (like my husband now 3 years post injury) even though he only had one broken C3 vertebra that "tipped" into the cord. IF indeed you (or any of the other stem cell companies) start doing clinical trials on patients post-injury (say more than 2 years post injury) and you see promising results, then I would be excited. Sadly, I have found no clinical trials doing this - I wonder why? It is extremely depressing that companies continue to bombard the media with these miraculous stories that are indeed not at all miraculous if you know something about spinal cord injury at all. Sadly, the public is misinformed. My husband would be THRILLED to have an opportunity to try stem cell therapy 3 years post-injury. If you know of anyone doing work in this area, please let us know. Sincerely, Gail Overton Phoenix, AZ P: 603.305.4756 E: ga...@pennwell.com<mailto:ga...@pennwell.com>
