Another Example of Medical Progress Using Adult Stem Cells

"Jacki Rabon's story serves as a tangible example of the medical progress that is being made through adult stem cell research."
     From "Adult Stem cell surgery may have teen walking again soon," Baptist Press.

I have no illusions that we will soon change the "mainstream media" love affair with the "potential" of stem cells harvested from human embryos. That infatuation goes beyond mere fact, ordinary reason, or an unbroken history of failure.

I do have slightly more hope that more attention will gradually be paid to patient improvements made as a result of stem cells extracted from unobjectionable sources. Granted, the story comes from a religious publication (the Baptist Press), but as news of more and more examples of dramatic improvements make their way onto the Information Highway, we can at least hope to break a news blackout.

This story is about Jacki Rabon, now 18, who was thrown out of the back of a SUV in 2003. Emergency surgery was performed but the teenager was left paralyzed.

Naturally, she was devastated, but a year later her pastor saw a PBS program entitled Miracle Cell (that you might have seen as well) about the work of Dr. Carlos Lima, BP reported.

Dr. Lima is a neurologist in Lisbon. He has had success in transplanting stem cells taken from a patient's own nasal (olfactory) cavity. According to the State Journal-Register, in the procedure doctors expose the spinal column and fill in the damaged section of spinal column with the cells taken from the patient's nose.

"The procedure was not available in the United States, but at the time at least six Americans had traveled abroad to have Carlos Lima, a neurologist at Hospital Egaz Moniz in Lisbon, Portugal, perform the surgery in hopes of regaining at least some movement," writes the BP's Erin Roach.

The community of Waverly, Illinois, pitched in and raised the necessary $47,000. Last October Jacki and her mom flew to Portugal where she had the surgery. Within two weeks of returning to the states, Jacki went to Detroit for rehabilitation.

In the ensuing months, Jacki's improvement has been marked by a series of baby steps. She began by crawling but by March 27 Jacki reached a "milestone."

"On the parallel bars I had just been walking forward and then backing up, and then yesterday I actually walked forward and then turned around and walked back forward instead of backing up," she told BP. "So yesterday was a pretty big day."

Walking on crutches by the end of the year is her goal. "Beyond that, Rabon said, she hopes someday to walk at her wedding," the BP reported.

Last year Jacki told the State Journal-Register she is "really against abortion, so I'm not for embryonic stem cell therapy. But anything else that doesn't involve killing a baby is great."

She added, "I think they should do [olfactory transplantation] in the States because it's just from my own body."

You can read this fine story in its entirety at http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23011.

If you have questions or comments, please write Dave Andrusko at dandrusko@nrlc.org.