Exploring Stem Cell Therapy for Cerebral Palsy | See the Seitz

When Hudsyn was first given the label cerebral palsy, Dan and I sat in that tiny doctors office and listened as the neurologist explained what the medical term actually meant. We nodded our heads partially in disbelief, yet also having a large amount of relief that we finally had a diagnosis.

The tough part came when he began talking about what we do next. Some part of me was really hopeful. Surely because this diagnosis is so common, there are a variety of things we can do to help our little girl live a full life. But after hearing the statements, We cannot repair brain damagethere is no cure for this outcome. So what we do now is treat symptoms and make her as comfortable and happy as possible by encouraging the healthy cells she has left to work hard and operate at maximum potential.

I felt like Id been punched in the stomach.

No cure? No way we can repair her brain to go back to what God had created for her in my womb? This wasnt supposed to be the way it ended. Give me the path, docanything. Ill do anything to help her get better. Will it take thousands of dollars to get a treatment that Id have to go to China to receive? Ill do it. But saying theres nothing you can dosome part of me refused to accept that. And Im very grateful I didnt. Because with hope and determination comes solutions.

We began prayinga lot. Then I began to researchanything I could get my hands on to help understand CP and what our life was going to be like in the future. It hurt because some of it was unbelievably difficult to imagine. I asked other parents. I found treatments like Cuevas Medek Exercise therapy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), and a host of alternative treatments which I wrote about last May. But none of these proved to improve her condition significantly on their own.

And then, a glimmer of hope surfaceda mom on one of my support groups pointed me to a hospital in Panama City that was doing something called Stem Cell Therapy for kids with brain damageespecially those with the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. So I dug a little deeper and found videos like these:

Obviously, I was skeptical and so was Dan. I think his first statement after hearing that I was suggesting we take our daughter to Panama City to get stem cell injections was, Im sorry honey, but theres no way in hell were doing that.

I continued to research despite his skepticism and mine. I wanted to know more facts. Maybe we couldnt do it right now, but I wondered if this was a future possibility for her once it was approved in the U.S.

Cord banks in the U.S. are talking about itabout their healing and regenerative potential. As the master cells of the body, stem cells are the building blocks of blood, tissue, and organs. Cord blood stem cells are being used today to treat serious diseases like leukemia and sickle cell anemia. Theyre also being researched as treatment for conditions like cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and hearing loss in clinical trials and lab research.

I continued my thirst of information by reading several books, articles, case studies and medical journals. I watched even more videos, presentations, listened to podcasts and audio recordings anything I could get my hands on to learn more about this type of therapy, but especially if it applied to kids and those with cerebral palsy. Below is a summary of the biggest points I pulled out of each resource:

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Exploring Stem Cell Therapy for Cerebral Palsy | See the Seitz