Sarah Bear's Story: Paths to Treatment

Stem cell therapy is a modern marvel, and something her father and I aim to pursue for Sarah. The basics of understanding the promise of stem cell treatment are described at the Stem Cell Information Center, a service of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). And its implications for those with cerebral palsy (CP) even more dramatically described on the website of 4MyChild, a foundation dedicated to advancing CP research and providing centralized access to current information about cutting-edge therapy and treatment resources. For example, many special needs children (including other disabilities beyond CP, such as autism, spinal atrophy, and muscular dystrophy) have benefited from unique therapies enabling them to take their first steps after years of immobility or reliance upon a wheelchair. Many such cases have occurred in China, and you can catch still more details (and often videos) that have been published on China’s leading Stem Cell News site at http://www.stemcellschina.com.

Below is a video from earlier this year (2009) of a toddler, Andrew Ricci, with cerebral palsy (CP) who received two courses of treatment in China with noticeable improvements. Like Sarah, Andrew was born a "preemie," weighing only 1lb 9oz at birth. Despite a rough beginning (97 days in the NICU, followed by incubation for another six weeks), his father describes him as a precocious and happy child. You can watch the video to hear him describe Andrew's clinical condition "before" and "after" or read excerpts from the transcript here.