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.

Olson, 19, who uses a wheelchair and cannot move his lower body after an accident on the football field in 2008, left for India on Jan. 13.

His mother, Medara Winter of Lake Mills, said Tuesday he is getting a couple of stem cell injections each day as well as physical therapy.

“He’s doing great,” she said.

Olson’s sister, Kessa, and his friend, Lucas Storby, went to India with him. They will stay with him until he finishes treatment in April.

“It’s kind of going to be a learning experience for all of them,” Medara Winter said.

Olson is one of eight patients being treated in a clinic operated by Dr. Geeta Shroff.

Read more at GlobeGazette.com.

A 58-year-old woman was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia almost a year ago, and was initially treated with chemotherapy to which she responded. However, within six months, she had recurrence of the disease and at this point, her only hope for a cure was an allogeneic stem cell transplant.

Since she had two brothers and two sisters, doctors at NH went ahead with the process of HLA typing of the patient and the siblings.

Read the full story at Daily News and Analysis.

“Theoretically I should be gone,” said Derek Van Wyk.

For six years Van Wyk’s been fighting ALS or Lou Gherig’s disease. Those diagnosed with ALS have a life expectancy of 3-5 years. There is no cure.

“Some people bow down and accept it. I won’t,” Van Wyk said.

To extend his life Van Wyk put his faith in a controversial treatment and a doctor thousands of miles away.

“At least they’re trying. Around here you get nothing,” Van Wyk said.

Van Wyk went to India to undergo embryonic stem cell therapy. He the cells injected into several parts of his body including his arms, legs, and the palms of his hands.

“The major procedures are in your epidural. In your spine,” Van Wyk said.

Van Wyk said it’s working by stabilizing his condition and in some cases reversing his symptoms. The American medial community remains skeptical.

Dr. Mark Noble, of the University of Rochester Medical Center, has been studying the potential use of stem cells for more than 30 years. He believes this research will eventually provide new treatments for ALS, Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injuries. But, he warned, some doctors overseas are cutting corners.

Read full article at YNN Rochester.

Scientists at the University of Bristol report some success with stem cell therapy for the treatment of osteoarthritis damage in knees.

Similarly, according to scientists at the Cardiff University, stem cells can be turned into cartilage cells and this cartilage can be transplanted in an affected joint.

These British scientists have concluded that osteoarthritis does not stop the cell regeneration process, so knee cartilage injuries can be effectively repaired by tissue engineering.

Read the full article at MedIndia.

Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences have developed a new therapy wherein injecting stem cells taken from the patients’ bone marrow back into the antecubital vein in the forearms and near the elbow can help them recover faster. The phase I trials of this therapy have been completed in which 12 stroke patients were treated successfully. More trials are being conducted on 120 new patients.

Read the full article at Times of India.

Speaking at a stem cell research conclave at Hyatt Regency in Andheri (East), he said, “The current guidelines, implemented in 2007 pertain only to research activities. But many leading private hospitals across the country are clinically implementing treatments that are still in the trial stage, particularly for neurological disorders.”

He said the only stem cell therapy approved by the ICMR for clinical application was in the area of bone marrow. “Brain tissue regeneration and many umbilical cord blood cell treatments being practised have not been cleared by the Government of India,” he cautioned.

Read the 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.

“Safety call over stem cell trips”, September 3, 2009, © BBC

By Pratibha Masand, “Hope for Parkinson’s cure stems from cell transplant”, The Times of India, © 2009 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.