Timothy's Story

What is Stem Cell Therapy?

Stem Cell Therapy is a surgical therapeutic procedure where stem cells from live tissue fragments are implanted. Transplanted cells bring life back by replenishing or repairing the cells of damaged organs (the brain, in Tim’s case). It restores tissues and organs by stimulating the injured cells during the healing process. In other words, Stem Cell Therapy may potentially be used when conventional treatments stop being effective.

The proof of effectiveness is in the medical references found at MEDLINE (online US National Library of Medicine, best accessed through PUBMED). A few hundred thousand Stem Cell Therapy summaries have been studied. A great number of patients have been treated with promising results. Therapeutic use of animal (not human) foetal origin stem cells has accumulated sufficient data to ensure its safety to mankind.

Spastic Cerebral Palsy in particular has shown significant improvement with Foetal Precursor Stem Cell Therapy over the years. The age factor when the Therapy is provided plays a vital role in the determination of the success rate. In general, the earlier treatment begins, the better chance children have of overcoming developmental disabilities or learning new ways to accomplish the tasks that challenge them. Many children go on to enjoy near-normal adult lives if their disabilities are properly managed.

Go to http://www.fetal-cells.com/ for more details about the therapy and how it works.

The Treatment Timothy Received in 2009

HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygenation Therapy) enriches available oxygen into deprived (hypoxic) neurovascular structures and mobilizes the patient’s own circulating stem cells (CD34+), enhancing immune responses and enabling the body to re-train, re-organize, and re-learn function.

Hyperbaric Oxygenation simply stated is breathing 100% oxygen at pressures greater than normal. Typically we breathe 21% oxygen (or less in larger populated cities) - Hyperbaric drives greater levels of enriched oxygen into the body enabling the effects of hypoxia (inadequate oxygenated blood) to be corrected.

Two rounds of treatment were completed at the Mapua Health Centre over a 6-month period at a total cost of $16,000 (fully fundraised by friends like you!).

Nobody can say how much Tim will benefit from this treatment or what the outcome will be, but everybody improves in some way. After the first round of treatment many people commented, including several professionals working with Tim, that he is so much more alert and focused on what’s going on around him.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbaric_medicine for a more detailed explanation and links to the various trials that have been done. We’ve included snippets of testimonies further down the page that show the results others have experienced, and a link to the website which includes links to YouTube videos of Australian news articles on HBOT.

From the US Dept of Health & Human Services (http://www.ahrq.gov/Clinic/epcsums/hypoxsum.htm):

• There is insufficient evidence to determine whether the use of HBOT improves functional outcomes in children with cerebral palsy. The results of the only truly randomized trial were difficult to interpret because of the use of pressurized room air in the control group. As both groups improved, the benefit of pressurized air and of HBOT at 1.3 to 1.5 atm should both be examined in future studies.
• The only other controlled study compared HBOT treatments with 1.5 atm to delaying treatment for 6 months. As in the placebo-controlled study, significant improvements were seen, but there was not a significant difference between groups.
• Two fair-quality uncontrolled studies (one time-series, one before-after) found improvements in functional status comparable to the degree of improvement seen in both groups in the controlled trial.
• Although none of the studies adequately measured caregiver burden, study participants often noted meaningful reductions in caregiver burden as an outcome of treatment.

A new study is currently under way (details at http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00290186), due for completion in September 2009.

These children have cerebral palsy and have been treated with HBOT at HyperMED in Melbourne (To read their full stories go to http://www.hypermed.com.au/index.htm):

“Within 12 sessions Kasey Beatty's seizures were 'completely gone'. Previously she had been suffering between 50-60 seizures a day!”

“After Madeline’s initial 4-weeks we noticed significant change with the most dramatic response being the complete stopping of her gagging when chewing food.”

“the improvements and changes that we have observed with Joshua have been slow but have continued even after his initial course of treatment”

“Flynn's changes have been subtle. His left arm and leg have relaxed and he is now able to bend much more easily. The high tone has in fact decreased. But by far the most promising progress for us is that Flynn has started to initiate bending his left leg whilst crawling. But we are still employing the wait and see approach.”

“At age 8, Daniel has never been able to walk independently without crutches. After 20 HBOT sessions he can now walk in excess of 20-minutes unassisted, he can now sit upright without falling over, and is capable of feeding himself more independently.”