Posted on 12/14/2010 9:44:31 AM PST by Niuhuru
A little girl who has been blind since birth has seen her mother and father for the first time - at the age of four.
Izabelle Evans can now see up to three feet in front of her after groundbreaking stem cell treatment in China costing £50,000.
Parents James Evans and Hollie McHugh said nothing could beat the feeling of the first time their daughter looked into their eyes and said: 'mummy' and 'daddy'.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
No time to read....Adult stem cells, I hope?
“It involves injecting the spinal canal with cells taken from the umbilical cords of healthy babies. The cells are then used to rebuild the optic nerves.”
The little girl is walking, talking and holding on to objects better as well. Awesome!
What are we doing here in the states regarding umbilical cord blood treatments?
It involves injecting the spinal canal with cells taken from the umbilical cords of healthy babies. The cells are then used to rebuild the optic nerves.
I tried to donate our umbilical cords when our daughters were born but our hospitals didn’t participate in the collection (not many do), so...not much?
umbilical stem cells, not embryonic. the embryonic ones are the ones state and federal government is spendign all that money on.
These were umbilical cord stem cells.
Another blow to the embryonic stem cell crowd.
Hope her improvement lasts.
Like you I’m glad to see that it’s not fetal cells.
It involves injecting the spinal canal with cells taken from the umbilical cords of healthy babies. The cells are then used to rebuild the optic nerves.
Looks good to me.
Looks like little Izabelle has a way to go in learning to use her eyes. It would be interesting to know, in a year or so, if her eyes uncross as she matures.
Paging Michael J Fox.
The poster you mention probably wasn’t fearing a cure. It’s pretty well been proven there won’t be one from this. They were fearing that the girl would develop cancer from it. That’s what’s happened to people from embryonic stem cell injections. Those cells start massively dividing and developing into cancer.
Very noticeable that the cells were from "healthy" babies.
Do we know if this introduction of outside cells can cause mutation? What haoppens in 2, 3, 4 generations from now??
This kid probably now believes everything comes in pairs.
Umbilical cord cells are “adult” stem cells.
Still no cures to date from destroying and dehumanizing embryos.
“What are we doing here in the states regarding umbilical cord blood treatments?”
Nothing of course, which is why we ar falling behind; the Chinese are now on top of this and likely their scientists will be the ones getting the Nobel Prizes.
*snicker* I bet.
“It would be interesting to know, in a year or so, if her eyes uncross as she matures.”
####
That will depend upon her ultimate BCVA (Best Corrected Visual Acuity). If she achieves sufficient resolution and the critical accompanying neural development, (her youth is on her side in this case), and in the absence of any accompanying extraocular muscle dysfunction her chances are good.
Minor gripe with this wording:
“The cells are then used to rebuild the optic nerves.”
It sounds like the doctors are using the cells. With the complexity of the retina and optic nerve, God and the cells themselves have to do the work. The only thing we can do is put them in place.
All that said, this is an encouraging therapy.
At this juncture I’m close to beliveing that the US is no longer going to be a superpower by the end of the coming new decade.
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