Florida girl with Cerebral Palsy treated with her own cord stem cells
TAMPA, FL -- A Tampa Bay area girl is now using both hands to play and eat despite suffering a disorder that affects her muscles. Her parents call it a medical miracle - all due to the fact they did one special thing when their baby was born.
Three-year-old Alyssa Dupuis feeds giant pennies into her piggy bank. The act in itself may seem like child's play - but to dad and mom, it's more like a medical miracle. Andrea says, ?At first she would keep her hand clenched and use her left hand to pick up her food and her toys. Shortly after that, her right hand was opening up."
Alyssa is just back from Duke University where she had an infusion of stem cells to treat her cerebral palsy - triggered by brain damage that occurred at birth. Andrea says, ?When a person is diagnosed with CP, there is no recovery really. You can do therapy to alleviate some of the pain, some of the rigidity they have in their muscles but it?s a life long battle."
Call it mother's intuition, but years before she had banked Alyssa's umbilical cord blood at birth. ?I said to my husband, I said ?Hey, we may have a shot here to reverse what has happened to Alyssa.??
The stem cell infusion took only 15 minutes. Back home, the family must report to researchers any changes every 3 months. ?Her speech has exploded, unbelievable. She is about what I would consider 85 percent cured from CP. She can walk flatfooted with a leg brace."
The treatment cost about $10,000 - not covered by insurance because its still deemed experimental and the cost to recover and bank those stem cells is also in the thousands of dollars but Andrea says, ?When it comes to your child, you'll pay anything."
Doctor Chris Rossbach, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at St. Joseph?s Children's Hospital, doesn't recommend that every mother bank her babies cord blood - partially due to the cost - but also because he says, ?There are relatively few conditions where cord blood from a new born baby harvested and stored would be useful for that same child at a later point. However, that being said, there seems to be more and more situations perhaps like this woman you're talking about, where a patients own stem cells may have a major benefit."
Copyright 2010 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://www.abcactionnews.com/content/taking_action_for_you/health/story/Childs-own-stem-cells-help-her-cerebral-palsy/0nhUfNf1eUu7nshfSU2o1w.cspx
TAMPA, FL -- A Tampa Bay area girl is now using both hands to play and eat despite suffering a disorder that affects her muscles. Her parents call it a medical miracle - all due to the fact they did one special thing when their baby was born.
Three-year-old Alyssa Dupuis feeds giant pennies into her piggy bank. The act in itself may seem like child's play - but to dad and mom, it's more like a medical miracle. Andrea says, ?At first she would keep her hand clenched and use her left hand to pick up her food and her toys. Shortly after that, her right hand was opening up."
Alyssa is just back from Duke University where she had an infusion of stem cells to treat her cerebral palsy - triggered by brain damage that occurred at birth. Andrea says, ?When a person is diagnosed with CP, there is no recovery really. You can do therapy to alleviate some of the pain, some of the rigidity they have in their muscles but it?s a life long battle."
Call it mother's intuition, but years before she had banked Alyssa's umbilical cord blood at birth. ?I said to my husband, I said ?Hey, we may have a shot here to reverse what has happened to Alyssa.??
The stem cell infusion took only 15 minutes. Back home, the family must report to researchers any changes every 3 months. ?Her speech has exploded, unbelievable. She is about what I would consider 85 percent cured from CP. She can walk flatfooted with a leg brace."
The treatment cost about $10,000 - not covered by insurance because its still deemed experimental and the cost to recover and bank those stem cells is also in the thousands of dollars but Andrea says, ?When it comes to your child, you'll pay anything."
Doctor Chris Rossbach, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at St. Joseph?s Children's Hospital, doesn't recommend that every mother bank her babies cord blood - partially due to the cost - but also because he says, ?There are relatively few conditions where cord blood from a new born baby harvested and stored would be useful for that same child at a later point. However, that being said, there seems to be more and more situations perhaps like this woman you're talking about, where a patients own stem cells may have a major benefit."
Copyright 2010 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://www.abcactionnews.com/content/taking_action_for_you/health/story/Childs-own-stem-cells-help-her-cerebral-palsy/0nhUfNf1eUu7nshfSU2o1w.cspx