Florida Girl With SMA Lifts Her Foot After $36,000 Chinese Stem Cell Treatment
An eight-year-old Titusville, Fla., girl suffering from spinal muscular atrophy returned from Qingdao, China, on October 3 after spending 34 days receiving stem cell injections that cost her family and friends $36,000. Spinal muscular atrophy is a neuromuscular disease characterized by degeneration of motor neurons, resulting in progressive wasting away and weakness. Patients often require comprehensive medical care. Sierra Journey Factor’s family said they detected improved neck control and other improvements after the treatment. “I saw her pick her left foot off the bed. It was really amazing,” the girl’s grandmother said. The family plans to take the girl back to China in two years for more stem cell treatment.
By Amanda Stratford, “Titusville girl receives help in China”, October 4, 2009, © Florida Today
Moved her foot? For $36K? I quote sci-fi author Robert Heinlein: “What are the facts? Again and again and again — what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what ‘the stars foretell,’ avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable ‘verdict of history’; what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!”
Unfortunately, you won’t get any facts from desperate family members or from charlatan stem cell providers. I do hope this child’s condition improves. Unfortunately, expensive trips to China won’t help.
How dare you quash a child’s hope? The girl’s neck moved and her foot moved. Isn’t that solid scientific evidence? That’s worth 36 million dollars! What more evidences do you need? How much did Mary and Martha pay Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead? Nothing! But things are different these days. And that wasn’t in China.
God bless Sierra and her family. Failure only occurs, when you don’t try. So any results are positive, even if to offer hope. I prey that they make it home safe, and I hope the Stem cell therapy has long lasting and safe effects. What most people dont think of is the long term effects of stem cells, it’s like giving your body the tools to repair itself, and i wish them all well.
Failure also occurs when you try out of total ignorance. And waste thousands of dollars in the process. I too hope for the best here, but come on. The only ones benefiting are the quacks in China. In the meantime, I will pray for this child.