Stem Cells Cure Boys Sickle Cell Anaemia
By Bob Ellis
May 28th, 2009
No, it wasn't embryonic stem cell therapy that cured Joseph Davis Jr.'s sickle cell anemia. But from the "mainstream" media's hype of embryonic stem cell research, you probably guessed it was.
While there is still not a single successful therapy derived from embryonic stem cell (ESC) research, the case of Joseph Davis Jr. is yet another success from a stem cell therapy that, unlike ESC, does not destroy innocent human life.
OneNewsNow ran an article today on the story of little Joseph Davis Jr., son of Joe and Darlene Davis from Texas , who was born with sickle cell anemia, an autosomal recessive genetic disorder. Because of this disorder, little Joe ran high fevers, experienced swelling of the hands and feet, and had to have frequent blood transfusions.
But when Joe Sr. and Darlene found they were pregnant with another child, they did some checking and found that their next child was a perfect match with Joe Jr. to be able to use stem cells from baby Isaac to treat Joe Jr.'s sickle cell anemia.
From the OneNewsNow article:
"[Cells from] Isaac's umbilical cord blood, adult stem cells, [were] going to save my son's life, and that adult stem cell got my son cured today. He is healed," Darlene adds. "What I'm talking about is no more sickle cell, no more running to the hospital, no more fevers, no more blood transfusion. He's a healthy child today."
That was back in 2002 when Isaac was born and Joe Jr. was treated using Isaac's umbilical cord stem cells, and the Joe Jr. is still doing fine.
CitizenLink ran an interview with the Davis family last year in which Darlene said of 8-year-old Joe:
He's doing great and he's loving life. When he was little, the doctors told me he would have to take antibiotics every day for the rest of his life. Guess what? He's not taking anything. And I thank God for that.
The total number of successful therapies using adult stem cells, umbilical cord stem cells and other non-destructive sources is between 70 and 80 now. Therapies include treatments for meningitis-related limb damage, brain injury, stroke, retina regeneration, heart tissue regeneration, angina, diabetes, bone cancer, nerve regeneration, cerebral palsy, cartilage regeneration, Parkinsons, kidney damage, liver cancer, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and leukemia.
Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Carol Franz while I was in Washington D.C. Carol is an adult stem cell therapy patient and survivor of multiple myeloma cancer, a blood cancer. When I met her, she was energetically hopping into a 10th-floor elevator with her luggage in tow, and she was wearing a neon shirt which declared she had received adult stem cell therapy. You can read Carol's story at her website and see before-and-after pictures of her.
Unfortunately, despite the dozens of successful treatments dereived from benign sources of stem cells, some people insist on destroying innocent human life to harvest stem cells from human embryos. Earlier this year President Barack Obama authorized taxpayer funds for embryonic stem cell research, using our tax dollars in connection with the destruction of innocent human life.
To some, it doesn't seem to matter that one line of research is already yielding tremendous results while the other has yet to produce a single useful treatment. It doesn't seem to matter to some that ESC faces practical hurdles such as tissue rejection (like that seen in organ transplants) and tumor generation in the recipient, such as those afflicting the poor Israeli boy treated with fetal stem cells. It seems irrelevant to some that an innocent human life is destroyed in the harvesting of embryonic stem cells.