To them, the fact that a treatment has not been thoroughly tested and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is a minor detail, with hope trouncing logic in a world where mainstream medicine can sometimes neither cure nor alleviate suffering.

The result is a booming international business that is growing every year, thanks in large part to the Internet and the savvy marketers who prey on patients’ fears.

Read more at Stanford Medicine.

The treatment’s availability is extremely limited in the U.S. because there’s little scientific proof it works.

The result can be a classic battle, not unlike that which occurred in the early years of the AIDS epidemic, between desperate patients frustrated that therapeutic progress comes too slow and a medical establishment that insists there be ample evidence a therapy is safe and effective before making it widespread.

Read more at The Houston Chronicle.

Izabelle Evans can now see up to three feet in front of her after groundbreaking stem cell treatment in China costing $79,000.

Parents James Evans and Hollie McHugh said nothing could beat the feeling of the first time their daughter looked into their eyes and said: “mummy” and “daddy”.

Hollie, 24, of Hayling Island, Hampshire (UK), said: “The results were better than we could ever have dreamed of. If you walk past she can see you and say ‘hiya.’ It is amazing because doctors here said she couldn’t see anything at all before we went.”
Izabelle can now see objects three feet in front of her

Izabelle was blind from birth after being born with septo optic displasia – a congenital condition which affects just five in one million babies and also causes hormone deficiency and mobility problems.

Read the full article at the Daily Mail.

Inger Marie Olsen from Norway recently concluded a cycle of the treatment in Beijing, and she has been in a stable condition since the first cycle in September 2009.

“For brain cancer patients after surgery, the combined DC-CIK and stem cell therapy from Cellonis Biotechnologies can be a very effective method in preventing cancer recurrence,” Dr. Dinggang Li said. “This is a new hope for cancer patients.” Li has been guiding the treatment of Inger.

“Inger’s general condition has improved very much,” he said. “She can now speak, move, eat and sleep much better, she has improved a great deal. I think her quality of life is almost back to normal.”

“I was diagnosed with cancer in 2005,” Inger said. “I had chemotherapy, radiotherapy and three surgeries, but the cancer still came back. A friend of mine read about this new therapy on the internet and the people of my town arranged a fund to help me come here.”

The Cellonis cancer therapy combines the latest research into cancer stem cells with the advantages of Traditional Chinese Medicine to create a unique cancer treatment. Dendritic cells, cultured and processed from blood taken from the patient’s body, are loaded with glioma stem cell antigens to create a vaccine that can activate the immune system to kill cancer cells as well as the cancer stem cells responsible for tumor initiation and recurrence. Another patient like Inger with glioma who undertook the treatment earlier this year, Guy Spavold from Canada, has been in stable condition since April with a good quality of life.

Read the full press release on this treatment here.

Contact: http://www.cellonis.com

Dorothy Leach, 76 from Hardwicke, can make out faces, shapes and colors for the first time in more than a year after receiving stem-cell treatment in China.

She raised £16,000 in fund-raising for the operation and traveled to China in September.

Dorothy says she can now see shapes and light since the stem cell treatment in China.

‘When I got back to Heathrow Airport last Wednesday I could see such a lot. It was unbelievable,’ said Dorothy.

‘The other day I saw a crow on the fence in my garden and had to check with people that I could actually see it but I did see it. It is amazing.

‘The doctors said it could take another six months to a year before my sight gets as good as it will be, but it is much better already. It was definitely worth it.’

Dorothy’s plight began when she woke up one morning in February last year to discover she had gone blind.

She was diagnosed with giant cell arteritis, an inflammatory disease of blood vessels.

Doctors in the UK said they could not restore her sight, but the Chinese hospital said it offered pioneering stem cell treatment that could restore her vision.

Read full article at The Daily Mail Online.

“She likes music,” said her dad, Gerardo Magallanes.

But when she was 2 months old, doctors noticed something was wrong. Little Alexia suffers from optic nerve hypoplasia.

“It’s the underdevelopment of the optic nerve. It wasn’t developed right when I was pregnant,” explained her mom, Elizabeth Cruz.

Alexia can sense light but can barely see shadows. She is not potty trained and cannot talk.

“It’s a daily struggle with everything. It makes obstacles a lot harder, you know, as far as dressing her, feeding her,” Cruz said.

There are not many treatment options for her in the U.S., let alone El Paso, Texas. So Alexia’s parents are raising money to go to China for stem cell treatment.

“It’s kind of sad that we have to go all the way to China, you know, to find some kind of treatment for my daughter, when here in the States they said there was nothing they could do for us,” said Magallanes.

In fact, their doctors are advising them not to go. But this time, hope trumps the doctor’s orders.

“It’s an opportunity for her to maybe gain some vision, some sort of vision even to be able to see our face would be very, very heart taking,” said Magallanes.

Cruz said their daughter will need about eight stem cell injections, which will cost about $32,000. They also need money for food and travel expenses. They are trying to raise $60,000 by June of 2011 to take the trip. So far, they have raised about $5,900.

Read full article: Click here.

First, stem cells are immature cells that renew themselves for long periods through cell division.

Also, under certain  conditions, they can be “tricked” chemically to become cells that do special things, like become the beating cells of the heart muscle or the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.

Doctors around the world are already using stem cells to treat diseases. No one is really sure if the treatments are safe and effective (by scientific standards). But many desperately ill and disabled patients travel many miles and spend many thousands of dollars to obtain these treatments.

This book of prayers is for those patients. But it is also for all patients now and in the future who seek relief from their diseases and disabilities through stem cell-based therapeutics.

Each day, people all over the world are moved to worship and adore God, and to acknowledge that they are dependent upon God.

The Gospels mention many times that Jesus himself often withdrew to quiet, desolate places to pray.

As St. Augustine once wrote, “He wishes our desires to be expressed in prayers so that we may be able to receive what he is ready to give.”

This Treasury of Prayers has four inspiring sections:

● Prayers Before Stem Cell Treatment (Contemplation and Decision);

● Prayers While at the Hospital or Clinic;

● Prayers for Patients with Specific Diseases, Conditions and Disabilities

● Scriptural Readings for the Spiritual Comfort of Stem Cell Patients.

To purchase at Amazon.com, click here.

For more information about “And I Shall Be Healed,” click here.

Twelve months after stem cell transplantation, scores on the SLE disease activity index among 12 patients fell to 3.2 from a baseline score of 12.1 (P<0.05), according to Jun Liang, MD, of Nanjing University, and colleagues.

Four of those patients showed “remarkable improvement” at one year, with scores of zero, the researchers reported online in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Read full article.

Four year old Abigail Williams of Llandudno will return to Wales on Thursday after undergoing a pioneering course of treatment in Beijing.

When Abigail was diagnosed with Variant Batten’s disease in February, her parents Christine Whitley and Kevin Williams were told that she would not be able to receive an experimental treatment which could prolong her life in the UK.

In response, her parents, family and friends launched a massive fundraising effort to pull together £35,000 to take Abigail to China or America to combat the rare illness, which causes blindness, and progressively prevents sufferers from walking, eating and talking.

Variant Batten’s disease frequently leads to an early death, but now Abigail has a new lease on life after five weeks of treatment.

Read full article.

By Amanda Stratford, “Titusville girl receives help in China”, October 4, 2009, © Florida Today