Not being able to stand up, walk, or even control your own bodily functions is a nightmare people with spinal cord injuries have to live with every day. Paraplegics who are paralyzed from the chest down must struggle to complete simple actions that you and I take for granted in our daily routines. With the use of stem cell therapy however, it is possible these wheelchair heroes could walk tall once more. One biotechnology company has begun testing this potential treatment earlier this month and in this person's opinion it has been a long time coming.
After more than a decade of struggling through ignorant opposition and the Bush administration's ban on stem cell research, the U.S. based Geron Corporation announced recently it had begun a stem-cell therapy study on a paraplegic man at the Shepherd Center in Georgia. The study, which had just recently gained FDA-approval for human clinical trials, involved the injection of approximately two million embryonic stem cells into the spinal cord of the patient. This therapy has currently been approved only for patients who have received a severe spinal cord injury seven to 14 days before treatment, however the Geron Corporation is looking to extend this therapy to patients with varying spinal cord injuries.
The research and use of embryonic stem cells has been a major controversial issue over the past decade and has led to many fear-based misconceptions. Some people genuinely believe that human fetuses are killed and harvested like crops on a farm, but this is certainly not the case.
Embryonic stem cells can be harvested from many different places such as the amniotic fluid, umbilical cord, or from the very early stages of a fertilized egg used in an in-vitro fertilization clinic.
None of these methods of gathering stem cells results in harm or stress to the fetus and allows researchers to discover new ways of utilizing these undeveloped cells for treatment purposes.
If this stem cell therapy study proves successful in allowing the patient to regain even some movement and sensation in the lower half of his body, it would open the doors for use of stem cell therapy to treat other conditions beyond spinal cord injuries. We can only hope the ignorance and fear of some doesn't harm this potential "holy grail" of medicine for all of us.
Charles Bennie
Prince George
