Family hopes stem cell treatment will help paralyzed son regain movement
Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament to benefit paralyzed wrestler
By Chris Starrs
chris.starrs@rockdalecitizen.com
Saturday, July 11, 2015
© Copyright 2015 Rockdale Citizen
Newton County resident Tyler Head, shown here with girlfriend Savannah Martin, will travel to Switzerland in August for a non-embryonic stem cell treament that could help him regain movement he lost after being paralyzed in a high school wrestling accident in 2012.
Newton County resident Tyler Head’s life changed considerably in late 2012 when he suffered severe neck and spinal cord injuries at a high school wrestling tournament in Conyers.
And while Tyler’s life did change, it most certainly didn’t come to an end.
“Tyler’s got a great, wonderful attitude,” said his mother, Deborah Head. “He’s trying to get on with his life. He’s not just sitting around being idle, and at the same time he’s still getting stronger and trying to do as much as he can for himself.”
Tyler, now 19, who was on the Newton High wrestling team at the time of his injury, has a van he’s able to get around in, graduated from high school on time in 2014 and is currently attending Georgia Perimeter College with an eye on a career in broadcast journalism.
“He finished his first year (at GPC) and he made A’s and B’s,” Deborah Head said. “He’s working on his core (courses) now, but he’s thinking about going into broadcast journalism. As you know, that can change. He’s still trying to figure out where his strengths lie.”
A new chapter in Tyler’s life story will be written in a month’s time when he travels to the Cells For Health clinic in Lucerne, Switzerland, for a stem-cell procedure that more than 500 other people — from all over the world — have undergone.
Deborah Head said she learned about stem-cell treatments from other patients at the Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta, a location that has been a touchstone for Tyler as he makes his remarkable recovery.
“We had looked into stem cell (procedures), but everything we learned about it indicated there were a lot of unwanted side effects,” she said. “If you get embryonic stem cells, you can develop tumors, your body can reject it, just like anything else coming from somebody else. We didn’t want to go that path at all. We met two guys at Shepherd that we knew had embryonic stem cells and they had no success at all. One of the guys got a finger flick, but that was it.”
But when the Head family met a young man from Tennessee — who ironically had also been injured while wrestling — at Shepherd, they began to look at stem-cell treatment in a different light.
“This is non-embryonic stem cell (treatment),” Deborah Head said. “They take bone marrow from your hip and spin it and they pull the stem cells from your own bone marrow and reintroduce it to the lumbar region of your spine because they have found that stem cells have memory and it remembers how the spinal cord is supposed to work. In theory, it goes to the damaged area and helps regenerate nerves in the damaged area.
“Hunter, the young man who had the wrestling injury, went to Switzerland in March, and within a month after having stem cell, he was moving his legs, which he could not do before. It was pretty impressive.”
After discussing the situation with his parents (Tyler’s father is Archie Head and he has an older sister, Nicole Swart), Tyler said he was on board with a trip to Switzerland.
“Tyler is a man of few words. We were talking about this and asked him if this was something he wanted to pursue because this is going to be a task. We don’t have that kind of money. He said, ‘Mom, I can tell you one thing. If I don’t go, I know it won’t work.’
Of course, there’s a substantial price tag that comes with the Swiss stem cell procedure — $25,000, including the procedure, lodging and airfare. The family has established a crowdfunding account.
Deborah Head said the “anchor attraction” at the fundraiser will be a Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament, but the management of the Celtic Tavern has also said they’ll donate a portion of their food-and-drink profits for the day to the cause. There will also be a silent auction of items donated by local businesses and individuals and there will be attractions and activities for children as well.
“It’s not just an adult event — it’s for all ages,” she said.
The plans are already in motion for the Swiss trip. Deborah Head said she’s been able to acquire the plane tickets and reservations at a hotel next to the clinic and the stem-cell procedure is set for Aug. 27 and a return to Newton County is scheduled for Aug. 31. Even though the family has not raised all the needed funds for the trip, Deborah Head was adamant that she and everyone else involved are “going on faith.”
“God’s in this, so who knows? I’m not going to underestimate God because He’s been our constant source throughout the journey,” she said. “He hasn’t let us down yet and I don’t feel He’ll let us down now.”
Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament to benefit paralyzed wrestler
By Chris Starrs
chris.starrs@rockdalecitizen.com
Saturday, July 11, 2015
© Copyright 2015 Rockdale Citizen
Newton County resident Tyler Head, shown here with girlfriend Savannah Martin, will travel to Switzerland in August for a non-embryonic stem cell treament that could help him regain movement he lost after being paralyzed in a high school wrestling accident in 2012.
Newton County resident Tyler Head’s life changed considerably in late 2012 when he suffered severe neck and spinal cord injuries at a high school wrestling tournament in Conyers.
And while Tyler’s life did change, it most certainly didn’t come to an end.
“Tyler’s got a great, wonderful attitude,” said his mother, Deborah Head. “He’s trying to get on with his life. He’s not just sitting around being idle, and at the same time he’s still getting stronger and trying to do as much as he can for himself.”
Tyler, now 19, who was on the Newton High wrestling team at the time of his injury, has a van he’s able to get around in, graduated from high school on time in 2014 and is currently attending Georgia Perimeter College with an eye on a career in broadcast journalism.
“He finished his first year (at GPC) and he made A’s and B’s,” Deborah Head said. “He’s working on his core (courses) now, but he’s thinking about going into broadcast journalism. As you know, that can change. He’s still trying to figure out where his strengths lie.”
A new chapter in Tyler’s life story will be written in a month’s time when he travels to the Cells For Health clinic in Lucerne, Switzerland, for a stem-cell procedure that more than 500 other people — from all over the world — have undergone.
Deborah Head said she learned about stem-cell treatments from other patients at the Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta, a location that has been a touchstone for Tyler as he makes his remarkable recovery.
“We had looked into stem cell (procedures), but everything we learned about it indicated there were a lot of unwanted side effects,” she said. “If you get embryonic stem cells, you can develop tumors, your body can reject it, just like anything else coming from somebody else. We didn’t want to go that path at all. We met two guys at Shepherd that we knew had embryonic stem cells and they had no success at all. One of the guys got a finger flick, but that was it.”
But when the Head family met a young man from Tennessee — who ironically had also been injured while wrestling — at Shepherd, they began to look at stem-cell treatment in a different light.
“This is non-embryonic stem cell (treatment),” Deborah Head said. “They take bone marrow from your hip and spin it and they pull the stem cells from your own bone marrow and reintroduce it to the lumbar region of your spine because they have found that stem cells have memory and it remembers how the spinal cord is supposed to work. In theory, it goes to the damaged area and helps regenerate nerves in the damaged area.
“Hunter, the young man who had the wrestling injury, went to Switzerland in March, and within a month after having stem cell, he was moving his legs, which he could not do before. It was pretty impressive.”
After discussing the situation with his parents (Tyler’s father is Archie Head and he has an older sister, Nicole Swart), Tyler said he was on board with a trip to Switzerland.
“Tyler is a man of few words. We were talking about this and asked him if this was something he wanted to pursue because this is going to be a task. We don’t have that kind of money. He said, ‘Mom, I can tell you one thing. If I don’t go, I know it won’t work.’
Of course, there’s a substantial price tag that comes with the Swiss stem cell procedure — $25,000, including the procedure, lodging and airfare. The family has established a crowdfunding account.
Deborah Head said the “anchor attraction” at the fundraiser will be a Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament, but the management of the Celtic Tavern has also said they’ll donate a portion of their food-and-drink profits for the day to the cause. There will also be a silent auction of items donated by local businesses and individuals and there will be attractions and activities for children as well.
“It’s not just an adult event — it’s for all ages,” she said.
The plans are already in motion for the Swiss trip. Deborah Head said she’s been able to acquire the plane tickets and reservations at a hotel next to the clinic and the stem-cell procedure is set for Aug. 27 and a return to Newton County is scheduled for Aug. 31. Even though the family has not raised all the needed funds for the trip, Deborah Head was adamant that she and everyone else involved are “going on faith.”
“God’s in this, so who knows? I’m not going to underestimate God because He’s been our constant source throughout the journey,” she said. “He hasn’t let us down yet and I don’t feel He’ll let us down now.”