Our patient stories.

Stem cell therapy patient, Shelley Sims, discusses her improvements following stem cell therapy at the Stem Cell Institute in Panama City, Panama. Shelley has reduced her medications from thirteen to two. She reports significantly decreased fatigue that has enabled her to start playing racquetball with her son as well as coach his basketball team – things she could never do before stem cells.

Holly Huber shares her uplifting story about receiving stem cell therapy for MS at the Stem Cell Institute in Panama City, Panama. Ms. Huber was speaking at a stem cell seminar in San Diego, CA.

Read Holly’s Blog – I Love My New Stem Cells

Relapsing remitting MS patient, David Oliver, shares his story of recovery and hope following stem cell therapy at the Stem Cell Institute in Panama City, Panama. David explains how he’s gone from not being able to get up from the couch to being drug-free and “back 100%” from multiple sclerosis.

I was diagnosed with MS in March of 2006. I was in the best shape of my life and training for the Los Angeles City Fire Department. Then, in one day…..my life drastically changed. My symptoms started with right optic neuritis and fatigue. I was fortunate to be correctly diagnosed in only 4 days and began treatment immediately.

“In short….I’ve got my life back….my kids have their dad back……and my wife has the man she knew before this terrible disease changed our lives”

I used Copaxone injections along with a number of different medications for energy, which none of them seemed to work. After my first treatment with steroids, the optic neuritis subsided, but the fatigue continued to increase. For the next three years, my days consisted mostly of sleeping on the couch and no energy to accomplish simple daily tasks. After hearing about a friend of mine having the stem cell treatment and the wonderful results, I didn’t hesitate to contact the ICM clinic and booked my airline flight. I arrived in Costa Rica on June 20th, 2009 and settled in for my two weeks of treatment. My family joined me and we had a chance to do some great sight seeing before my first day of treatment. The next two weeks flew by and my treatment was wonderful. The doctors and staff were so great and very professional. The facility was beautiful and spotless. I finished my treatment and arrived home on July 4th. Independence Day in more ways than one for me. As of now, I have been back from my treatment for over 16 months and have been feeling fantastic. My fatigue had started to diminish right after my treatment was completed and improved on a weekly basis. I started an exercise program as soon as I got back and have steadily increased the intensity. I am back to 100% !!! I can do heavy workouts. I do three mile runs in 30 minutes and I’ve even done a 30 mile ride on my indoor cycle.

In short….I’ve got my life back….my kids have their dad back……and my wife has the man she knew before this terrible disease changed our lives.

As I tell others I meet with MS……..don’t wait! The longer you wait for treatment, the more time you give MS to continue damaging your body.

Pura Vida,

David Oliver

Shirley Wigfall shares her success story. Shirley was diagnosed relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis in 2003 after having trouble walking. After MS drugs were unsuccessful and she was rejected for clinical trials, Shirley found the Stem Cell Institute. Shirley no longer needs a cane to walk and credits stem cells for “truly changing her life”.

Biomedical Ethics in a Brave, New World

By Ken Camp, Managing Editor
Published: May 07, 2010

POSSUM KINGDOM — When Dennis Trammell exhausted treatments available in the United States for his multiple sclerosis and began looking at other options, he excluded from consideration any possible regimens involving embryonic stem cells.

“I didn’t even explore that,” said Trammell, pastor of First Baptist Church at Possum Kingdom Lake, near Graford.

The list of ‘can-do’ options in health care get longer each day; hence, also the ‘ought’ questions and the complexities.

His health problems started in 1999 with decreased vision in one eye, diagnosed as a case of optic neuritis. When similar symptoms occurred in his other eye two years later, he was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS. He began a series of conventional treatments, including once-daily injections that helped manage the illness temporarily.

But in July 2008, his illness advanced to secondary progressive MS. Two months later, he went to Costa Rica for stem-cell treatments not available in the United States—but not before he checked on the source of the stem cells.

Dennis Trammell – “Results have been mixed. …But since the treatment, a daily nap is no longer needed”

“I really questioned before agreeing to take part in the treatments what type of stem cells were used,” said Trammell, who serves on the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board. While some countries allow experimental treatments using embryonic stem cells harvested from abortions, Costa Rica did not, he learned.

His treatment involved stem cells harvested from the umbilical cords of full-term births, administered by injection into his spinal cord to repair damage to the brain caused by MS. That was coupled with an intravenous infusion of his own stem cells, harvested through liposuction. The goal, he explained, was to “reset” his immune system.

Dennis Trammell

Results have been mixed, he reported. Initially, he experienced improvement in balance, but it proved short-lived. Use of his left arm has diminished in the last year, he noted. But a lasting benefit of the treatments has been a marked improvement in his energy level.

“I had gotten to the point where a nap was needed on a regular basis. But since the treatment, a daily nap is no longer needed,” he said.

Before he was diagnosed, Trammell already had determined certain boundaries existed in terms of medical treatment that he could not cross in good conscience. Other Christians sometimes fail to consider these kinds of issues until confronted with them in a doctor’s office or hospital waiting room.

“We’re still dealing with the age-old question: ‘Given what can be done, ought we?’ But the list of ‘can-do’ options in health care get longer each day; hence, also the ‘ought’ questions and the complexities of knowing right from wrong, good from bad,” said Tarris Rosell, professor at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Rosemary Flanigan Chair in the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City, Mo.

While subjects like nanotechnology, reproductive cloning, genetic engineering and artificial intelligence capture the imagination of some bioethicists, those are not the issues most people face, said ethicist David Gushee.

“I sometimes wonder whether there isn’t a bit of a science fiction fetish here, in which for some it is just fun and interesting to ponder ethical issues from a future that hasn’t reached us yet. I would prefer to deal with the ethical issues that face us right now,” said Gushee, professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University.

“Very difficult health care decision-making remains a reality that everyone faces at one time or another, and not just at the end of life. My own family’s recent experiences in the health care system remind me that it has its own momentum and practices that are simply taken for granted from within the system,” he said. “As Christians, we do need to have a broader vision that asks questions rather than simply taking for granted the way things are.”
In recent weeks, Gushee’s wife, Jeanie, had an appendectomy, and his sister, Janette, had surgery to remove a brain tumor.

“All the talk of autonomy and informed consent bumps up against the realities of how little laypeople understand what doctors are saying and doing. Time pressures in situations of crisis, situations which also tend to limit our rational capacity as we are overwhelmed by fear and confusion and pain, also make it very difficult to exercise judgment either for ourselves or for someone else,” he said.

“Recently, I faced a situation where the doctor called me in the waiting room from my wife’s surgical suite during her appendectomy to ask me whether she should also take out the gall bladder. I had moments to decide, on the basis of very limited information, whether to authorize this irreversible surgery. I said no. But it was a tough call, and I had very little information, and of course, I had only met that doctor about 48 hours before.

“We need ways to slow down the decision-making process whenever possible, to empower patients and families with better information and more choices, to point us to websites and other sources of broader information.”

Tensions between sanctity-of-life issues and quality-of-life issues move from the realm of academic discussion or public policy debates when they affect people whom an individual Christian knows and loves, said ethicist Bill Tillman.

“Perhaps it is only when we find ourselves, a family member or someone else close to us involved in the bioethical realm that we even realize these tensions or where we might be with them,” said Tillman, who holds the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology.

Patients and family members today face tough questions their parents and grandparents never had to consider one or two generations ago, in part because of a greater emphasis on patient autonomy and patients’ rights, Rosell observed.

“Medical paternalism was the rule and practice for centuries or millennia, while the consensus now is against paternalism in favor of patient autonomy,” he said.
Perhaps “the pendulum may have swung too far” in the direction of patients being called upon to make some life-and-death decisions, Rosell suggested.

“It’s not necessarily a good thing when patients and/or their families demand specific medical interventions, especially when they are not medically indicated and won’t help but might harm,” he said, citing the example of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation being used on the frail elderly or people suffering from the failure of multiple organs. “So, just because I want it does not mean it would be good for me to get it.”

Ministers often find themselves in difficult situations when seeking to provide comfort and spiritual counsel to families or individuals facing difficult medical decisions.

“Likely, conversation about suffering, pain and ‘Where is God in all this?’ will arise,” Tillman observed. “Isn’t it interesting that it takes something we would call an intellectual, theological or physical crisis before we are willing to talk about these things?

“But these are matters to which a minister can be sensitive and perhaps build a relationship which had not been possible before.”

Tillman advises seminary students to set the proper example by considering end-of-life issues personally long before a crisis occurs.

“My advice to the students I have in classes at Logsdon is that they are never too young to put a will together, to have a statement of advanced directives prepared and to be advising their friends, family members and congregants to be doing the same thing,” he said.

“One benefit is they have to think through the matters surrounding their own mortality—all of us will die. Will we leave our life circumstances in such order that someone can pick up where we leave off? Can someone speak on our behalf if we arrive in a context where we cannot? As we recognize we will not be in this life forever—and frankly do not know the circumstances or the when of our death—quite probably those considerations will cause us to think more clearly and deliberately about how we live the moments we have.”

Beginning-of-life issues raise as many questions for some Christians as end-of-life dilemmas, Gushee added.

“Reproductive technologies also have brought us a host of unanticipated consequences, such as genetic screening to sift through extra embryos, ‘octomoms’ for those who feel compelled to implant all the conceived embryos, half a million frozen embryos and the ethical issues these raise, including a steady call for their exploitation in research, custody disputes over frozen embryos, and on it goes,” he said.

While the Religious Right has been most vocal about some of these issues, concern transcends political agendas, he added.

“I hear among my students at McAfee, who are not driven by a conservative political ideology, a kind of healthy sense of caution and sobriety about this endless fiddling with the procreative process,” Gushee said. “One may say it may be that the scientific and technological pride of the 1960s and 1970s is giving way to a more cautious appreciation of the dangers and limits of our interventions in nature.”

Caution and humility likewise should characterize the counsel Christians offer to families who are coping with end-of-life, quality-of-life and beginning-of-life issues, Tillman noted.

“Presence—caring presence—can be priceless,” he said. “I’d say stay away from interpretive generalities. Praying that God’s will be done—and not outlining to the patient and to God what that will is—is always appropriate.”

John “Skeeter” Coleman, III received stem cells for heart failure in Costa Rica in 2008″

“… Blood samples were taken to find donor placentas with tissue types compatible to mine. Three weeks later I received two IV injections per day for seven days. It was done on an outpatient basis in CIMA hospital. Simple, painless and I could drive myself to and from the hospital for the injections. Four months after the stem cell therapy my cardiologist asked me to return for tests to see if we had made any progress. Blood studies revealed BNP 620 (down from 3,875); Hemoglobin A1c 6.0; all other tests were normal. Ejection fraction had increased to 51 (up from 26 two months after ICD implant and up from 12 on original admission) and there were no further problems with dyspnea. She was ecstatic. I was elated. We hugged and both of us shed tears of joy before she emailed that same phalanx of physicians who kept me alive previously with my spectacular results.

“The quality of my life has been enhanced immeasurably. I definitely breathe easier and I’m climbing up and down the mountain daily with no problems and no stopping every 15 meters (48’) to catch my breath.”

Prior to stem cell therapy my ICD defibrillated five times preventing sudden cardiac death. A change in one medication followed by the stem cell therapy and I am “defib free” for 14 months. The quality of my life has been enhanced immeasurably. I definitely breathe easier and I’m climbing up and down the mountain daily with no problems and no stopping every 15 meters (48’) to catch my breath. How long I will live is not in my hands but I appreciate the fact I am no longer burdened by a powerful pharmaceutical lobby that maintains a stranglehold on the US Congress. One doctor explained it in simple terms. “Pharmaceutical firms make money selling drugs. Stem cell therapy has the capability of curing possibly eliminating all drug therapy. There are many things the United States has to be proud of. This isn’t one of them.Think about it.!”

“I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse in October of 2005. Dr Tonkovic of Midwest Heart Specialists in Hoffman Estates Illinois informed me i needed surgery to repair the valve immediately. He said that he felt without surgery I would die within six months. I had the surgery. Dr. Timothy James at Sherman Hospital in Elgin Illinois did the surgery. In February 2006, after being diagnosed with heart failure, I had a bi-ventricular pacemaker/defibrillator placed.

Eating right, resistance training, and running was a daily part of my life prior to my diagnosis. It was noted that I probably did not notice the heart failure symptoms because I was in such good physical condition. This probably led to the advanced condition.

The ejection fraction (EF) is the measure of the left ventricles pumping strength, it’s the percentage of blood pumped out of the left ventricle on each beat. Normal EF is between 50% and 70%. An echo in January 2009 showed an EF of 30%. An echo in January 2010 showed an EF of 20%. The echo’s note “severely reduced left ventricular systolic function…”

“I was hoping to improve my EF to somewhere in the 30% range, it seemed to be a comfort zone for me. To hear that my EF had improved to 40% was far above my expectations.”

I am under the care of Dr. Heroux at Loyola Medical near Chicago Illinois. My feelings were, at that point that things were slowly, or not so slowly, getting to a point where I really needed to do something other than “manage” my heart failure. So now what? What do I do? My mother had come across an article in the Houston newspaper about heart issues and stem cells. So I started researching and found ICM, Cell Medicine/The Stem Cell Institute, and decided to “take a chance”. I had a great deal of support from family and friends, without whom this would not have happened. This chance that I chose to take was stem cell therapy.

In April 2010 I went to ICM in Costa Rica and found everything there exceeded my expectations. They met us at the airport, they ensured our accommodations were taken care of, they had a driver for us every day. They were incredibly professional. The facilities were better than expected; we went on a very impressive tour of the lab. Marcela Potts was in charge and she handled everything for us, without flaw. I could go on and on. I had five days of stem cell treatments from April 26th through April 30th. The staff and medical personnel were terrific. They really were professional and to me they easily met any expected standards.

I had an appointment with Dr. Heroux on July 12th, ten weeks after my stem cell therapy, and he asked me to get an echo that day. It seemed a bit unusual, but he has my trust. They called a few hours later and told me my echo had been read and that the EF was now at 40%, “a big improvement”. It’s not easy to measure the improvement when it comes to heart failure from a personal standpoint. Reading it through an echo is one thing but to determine change can’t really be measured like a thermometer, you can’t read the temperature on the scale. After only ten weeks I am reluctant to make any real claims to improvement, but I do have to admit I am feeling better overall. I have far less bouts of tiredness. I can go all day without serious palpitations the rest of the night.

I was really hoping that the stem cells would take and that it would be enough to improve my condition some. I was hoping to improve my EF to somewhere in the 30% range, it seemed to be a comfort zone for me. To hear that my EF had improved to 40% was far above my expectations. It has only been ten weeks so we have a long way to go before a real determination is made. So far so very good!”

Sincerely,
D.W.