Category Archives: Stem Cell Doctors


Want to save a life? Try to give blood. Then keep trying. – Tampa Bay Times

Stephanie Hayes | A diverse blood supply may help people get through coronavirus and more.

When youre sitting on the Big Red Bus, spend some time thinking about Charles Drew.

The African American surgeon and researcher invented a process of separating blood, prolonging the storage life of plasma. Considered the father of modern blood banking, he developed mobile donation and opened large blood banks during World War II. Later, he taught countless doctors at Howard University.

Seventy years after his death comes our spring of reckoning. As we try to create a more just and equitable world, blood plays a role.

The nonprofit OneBlood does this work locally. It isnt taking walk-ins or parking the iconic bus at movie theaters and high schools right now. Donation is all via appointment. And since May, OneBlood has offered donors a free coronavirus antibody test. It explains, with some room for error, if you had the virus but didnt know it.

If you did, your convalescent plasma can be split off (thanks, Dr. Drew!) and given to COVID-19 patients in an experimental treatment that may help fight the virus. Coronavirus patients are disproportionately black and Hispanic, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The disease is hitting minorities for a host of reasons, most of which stem from the systemic inequalities now under the national microscope.

Coronavirus aside, theres a need for a more diverse blood pool. Four percent of blood donors are black, said OneBlood spokeswoman Susan Forbes. Thats too low, because black donors hold the key to treating sickle cell anemia, a disorder that primarily affects African Americans and can require lifelong blood transfusions.

We live in a diverse country, and we have people here from all over the world," Forbes said. "Different ethnic groups and genetics play a role in finding matches for people who need blood.

Shamefully, it has been seven years since I donated blood. My vessels are like dental floss, and finding an entry can be a gnarly expedition. And honestly, it is alarming to watch the blood bail out. Dont I need that?

But if 2020 isnt the time to get over ourselves, no time is. Despite my lily-livered ways, I made my appointment. Twice. I failed to pass the bar. Twice. My iron was too low, even after a bacon cheeseburger, a moat of spinach, a pantheon of chicken and a barge of quinoa. Please do not write telling me to take iron supplements. I have thought of this.

Other potential obstacles range from pregnancy to medications. And heres one: For decades, a federal rule restricted men who had sex with men from donating blood, a decision born of the AIDS crisis. As these COVID patients were turned away from blood centers in April, the Food and Drug Administration relaxed the abstinence period to three months. Thats still not great. More studies are coming as some doctors and advocates work to end the rule. Forbes said men who have been deferred should contact OneBlood to get reinstated.

Lets do the best we can here. Dont be like me and wait years. Eligible people can donate whole blood every 56 days, plasma every 28 and platelets every seven. Help someone hurt by the pandemic. But know, too, that cancer patients and premature babies and sickle cell patients will not go away when the crisis fades.

To make an appointment, visit oneblood.org or call 1-888-9DONATE.

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Want to save a life? Try to give blood. Then keep trying. - Tampa Bay Times

Rare disease startup NFlection scores $20M in Series A haul; Gilead partner Galapagos signs pact with Oxford biotech – Endpoints News

A Wayne, PA-based startup called NFlection has raised $20 million in their Series A launch round. F-Prime and venBio Partners provided the cash for the rare disease biotech, funding their first clinical trial for NFX-179 Gel in adult patients with cutaneous neurofibromatosis type-1, or NF-1. This study allows us to determine the drugs ability to suppress key biomarkers involved in the progression of neurofibromas and will aid in the selection of doses for a larger Phase2bstudy, saidCEO Christopher Powala.

Having steered an idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis drug to a big-money deal with Gilead, Galapagos has enlisted e-therapeutics and its silico phenotypic screening platform to discover some new approaches to modulating a specific mechanism involved in IPF and possibly other fibrotic diseases. The Oxford biotech will be responsible for the computational activities while Belgium-based Galapagos performs the experimental testing.

BryoLogyx has forged a pair of agreements with Neurotrope. The company agreed to acquire Neurotropes preclinical data and drug product for use of bryostatin-1 in an immuno-oncology application and to supply synthetic bryostatin-1 for use in clinical trials and potential commercialization for the treatment of Alzheimers disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Neurotrope has been developing bryostatin-1 under a cooperative research and development agreement with the National Cancer Institute. They didnt disclose financial terms.

California-based drug developer Rezolute has bagged the FDAs pediatric disease designation for RZ358, its mid-stage drug for congenital hyperinsulinism. The disease, characterized by excess insulin secretion, causes repeated episodes of low blood sugar. The condition often goes unnoticed in infants, putting them at risk of complications of recurring hypoglycemic events, including developmental delays, seizures, coma and death.

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Rare disease startup NFlection scores $20M in Series A haul; Gilead partner Galapagos signs pact with Oxford biotech - Endpoints News

Gene Therapy and Editing : Novel options for inherited retinal blindness – ETHealthworld.com

(Representative image) by Dr. Indumathi MariappanResearch Scientist, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad

Retinal Blindness

Millions of people the world over suffer visual disability as a result of retinal dystrophy that involves the death of retinal cells that are important for the light sensing function of the eye. Enormous progress has been made in other blinding conditions involving the cornea, lens, among others. However, the retinal dystrophies and optic nerve atrophies do not have any proven therapy till date. The major forms of retinal dystrophies such as Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Lebers congenital amaurosis (LCA), Stargardts disease etc. are either inherited disorders or developed with aging. In most cases, the retinal cells are present at birth, but undergo gradual death during the later stages of life. It is typically characterized by initial symptoms of low vision and night blindness during early childhood, which progresses to severe visual impairment and total blindness at different stages of adulthood. Inherited defects in many genes involved in retina-specific functions and vitamin A metabolism are linked to various forms of retinal dystrophies. These genetic defects affect the normal cellular functions of the retina, leading to gradual cell death and ultimately the patient becomes legally blind.

Recent Technologies and Novel Treatment Options

The current modalities for the treatment of such patients mainly include dietary supplements, visual aids and rehabilitation support. However, a radical approach is required either to preserve or to restore visual function in these patients. Some of them include the replacement of either the lost retinal cells or the defective genes within the surviving, but non-functional retinal cells. This has been the principle behind the massive efforts involved in the development of cell and gene-based therapies. They are currently at different stages of product development and clinical trial evaluation. In cell therapy, normal retinal cells are prepared from specialized stem cells and are injected into the eye to replace the lost cells and to restore retinal functions. Clinical safety trials using cell therapy are ongoing in many countries such as USA, Japan, UK and others (Weblinks 1-4). In gene therapy, the prime strategy is to introduce a normal copy of the affected gene into the surviving retinal cells of the patient, to restore normal cellular functions and improvements in vision. This is achieved by engineering safe viral vectors to carry a normal copy of the desired gene as their cargo. When injected into the eye, the viruses can infect the retinal cells once and deliver the normal gene to restore cellular functions (Weblinks 5-7). A step further is an advanced method of DNA microsurgery, wherein, the defective part of the retinal cell DNA is precisely edited to correct the genetic defect and to restore cellular functions. This could be achieved using the latest gene editing tools such as ZFNs, TALENs, CRISPR/Cas systems etc. These are naturally occurring molecular scissors, employed as host defense mechanism and immune memory to combat viral infections in different species of bacteria. These systems are now engineered to enable DNA and RNA editing in almost any living cells. Such tools are now combined with either cell therapy or gene therapy to develop novel drugs for the treatment of various inherited genetic diseases (Weblink 8).

Gene therapy products approved for clinical use:

LUXTURNATM (Weblink 5)

This is the first commercial gene therapy drug approved by the US-FDA and European Commission for the treatment of an early childhood retinal dystrophic condition called the Leber Congenital Amaurosis 2 (LCA2). This disease is caused due to genetic defects in the gene called RPE65. LUXTURNA (AAV2-hRPE65v2 or Voretigene neparovec-rzyl) is an engineered adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) vector carrying a normal copy of the human RPE65 gene. This product was developed and marketed by Spark Therapeutics, a US-based startup now owned by Roche, a Swiss pharma company.

This drug has been tested on 20 patients, aged 3 years or older, in a randomized, controlled, open label, phase 3 interventional clinical trial at two sites in the US from June 2015. All treated individuals showed significantly improved functional vision, with no product-related serious adverse events or deleterious immune responses. The treated patient will be followed for further 15 years until March 2030 to assess the long-term retinal gene expression and stable maintenance of functional vision. It is administered as a onetime injection behind the retina of an eye of patients genetically diagnosed to carry mutations in RPE65 gene and also have sufficient viable retinal cells. It is priced at $850,000 for two eyes in the US and UK, which translates to about 6.5 crores in Indian rupees.

Many such gene therapy vectors are currently under clinical trial evaluation for the delivery of other retinal gene such as REP1, PDE6B, RPGR, OAT (Ornithine aminotransferase), MERTK, sFLT1etc.

EDIT101 (Weblink 8)

This is the first gene editing based drug approved by US-FDA, for the treatment of another early childhood retinal dystrophic condition called LCA10, caused by defects in the CEP290 gene. Here, it is important to understand that a gene editing approach is different from a gene therapy. In gene therapy, a normal copy of entire gene is delivered to the retina to complement the defective gene. In CRISPR/Cas9 based gene editing, only the mutated region of the gene is edited/corrected in situ inside the target cells. This is an attractive approach for correcting a variety of gene mutations, especially those in large genes which exceed the cargo capacity of the commonly used AAV-based gene therapy vectors.

EDIT101 (AGN-151587) is an engineered adeno-associated virus 5 (AAV5) vector carrying a CRISPR/Cas9 based DNA editing machinery to locate and remove a specific mutation hotspot within the intron 26 of human CEP290 gene. When injected behind the retina, the virus will infect the surviving photoreceptor cells and deliver the CRISPRs to enable mutation editing. Successful DNA edits in photoreceptor cells would inactivate a spurious splice site created by the mutation and restore normal protein expression and retinal function.

Preclinical testing in mice and monkey eyes has proved significant edit efficiency of up to 28%, which was above the expected 10% threshold required for clinical efficacy in human trials. This drug was developed by the gene editing company, Editas Medicine, Inc. and is being tested in 18 participants in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial sponsored by Allergan, at four sites in the US from March 2019 and the outcomes are awaited.

Similar gene editing strategy is being explored at different centers for mutation correction in other retinal genes such as KCNJ13, RP1, USH2A, MYO7A, RDH12 etc.

Who can benefit?

Both gene therapy and gene editing approaches have opened up newer hopes for the treatment of various genetic condition affecting different cell types of the body. However, only a small subset of patients can benefit from such therapies at the moment. Such treatment considerations require a thorough genetic screening/genotyping to confirm the identity of the gene affected in a specific patient. Further, the patients should retain some viable cells in the retina for the treatment to be clinically effective.

Research efforts in India

Many labs in the country are developing gene therapies and gene editing based therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases affecting the blood, retina, liveretc. Researchers at the CMC, Vellore, CSIR-IGIB, Delhi, CSIR-CCMB, Hyderabad are developing gene therapeutics for the treatment of different forms of blood disorders. Narayana Nethralaya, Bangalore is engaged in developing AAV-based gene therapies for various retinal dystrophies. Our lab at the LV Prasad Eye Institute is collaborating with the research teams at IIT-Kanpur and CSIR-IGIB, Delhi to develop modified gene therapy vectors for retinal gene delivery and cell-based therapies using CRISPR edited stem cells and retinal cells respectively.

The way forward

As of May 2020, the RetNet database lists about 271 genes to be associated with different forms of retinal dystrophies. This requires a larger library of gene delivery vectors to be developed and made available at affordable costs for the treatment of a large number of patients. This mandates the need for developing indigenous and cost-effective therapeutics and ICMR has set up a dedicated task force on gene therapy research, to identify and support promising research ideas in this newly emerging area of biomedical research. A national guideline for gene therapy product development and clinical trials has been jointly formulated and released by the DBT and ICMR in 2019. It is hoped that the streamlined regulatory framework would fast track our basic and translational research efforts into developing novel and cost-effective treatment options in the near future.

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Gene Therapy and Editing : Novel options for inherited retinal blindness - ETHealthworld.com

Why Do Some People Get Sick All the Time, While Others Stay in Freakishly Good Health? – Discover Magazine

This originally appeared in the July/August issue ofDiscovermagazine as "Titans of Immunity." Support our science journalism by becoming asubscriber.

For years, Melanie Mussons friends have marveled at her superpower: staying healthy no matter what germs are making the rounds. Colds and flu felled plenty of Mussons dormmates in college, but the viruses always seemed to pass her by. I never got sick once, she says. I got about five hours of sleep a night, I finished school in three years, and I worked 30 hours a week throughout. My best friends labeled me the machine.

Mussons ironclad immune system also set her apart at her first job. While she was working at an assisted living facility, her co-workers succumbed to a stomach virus that was running rampant. Undaunted, Musson offered to cover their shifts. There I was, the brand-new employee, getting as much overtime as I wanted. I wasnt worried that Id catch [the virus], because it just doesnt happen.

While the rest of us battle seasonal flu, chronic allergies and back-to-back wintertime colds, Musson and other immune masters glide through with scarcely a sniffle something University of Pittsburgh immunologist John Mellors sees all the time. People get exposed to the same virus, the same dose, even the same source. One gets very sick, and the other doesnt.

Its only natural to wonder: Why do some people always seem to fall on the right side of this equation? And could our own immune systems approach the same level with the right tuneup?

Doctors have noted natural variations in the immune response among people since Hippocrates time, but the reasons remained elusive for centuries. New research, however, is starting to illustrate just how your genes, habits and past disease exposures affect the character and strength of your immune response. These discoveries are helping to define the parameters of a race in which people like Musson have a head start and others have much more ground to cover.

The moment a virus, bacterium or other invader breaches your cells walls, your body rolls out a tightly choreographed defense strategy. The main architects of this process are a set of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes, which code for molecules that fine-tune the bodys immune response. So when a bacterium gets into one of your cells, your HLA genes churn out proteins that flag the cell as infected so that specialized immune cells will swarm in to destroy it. Other HLA genes activate cells that rein in the immune response, so it doesnt destroy more than necessary.

Like fingerprints, everyones HLA gene assortment is unique. Your HLA genes give you a broad repertoire of immune defense tactics, but that repertoire may be great for some microorganisms and lousy for others, Mellors says. Its not like theres one HLA type thats highly immune to everything. This genetic variation helps explain why you might catch every cold virus going around but havent gotten a stomach bug in decades. A Massachusetts General Hospital study found that some so-called HIV controllers immune stalwarts who dont develop AIDS from the virus HIV have HLA gene variants that prompt specialized cells to swarm in and attack proteins key to the virus function.

But your HLA genes arent the only ones that shape your immune resistance. The Human Genome Project has identified tens of thousands of gene variants that are more common in people who develop specific diseases and less common in people without these conditions.

Flagging these kinds of gene-disease links is a relatively simple matter, says immunologist Pandurangan Vijayanand of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. After researchers identify a gene sequence thats linked to disease, however, they need to figure out what it is actually doing, says Vijayanand. How is this change in the sequence impacting the cell or causing the susceptibility [to disease]?

To answer this question, Vijayanand and his team are creating what they call an atlas, to catalog which proteins each gene produces and how these proteins change the function of different cell types. For example, he has identified a gene variant that makes people more prone to asthma a condition in which the body attacks its own healthy airway cells by driving high production of proteins that rev up the immune response. Other gene variants appear to help people fight lung tumors by prompting their tissues to produce more T lymphocytes, specialized immune shock troops that kill cancer cells.

While a dizzying number of genetic differences remain to be cataloged, immunologists agree that, in general, these differences help explain why resistance to some pathogens can seem to run in families. People like Melanie Musson probably get a genetic leg up to some degree Musson says her mother, father and siblings rarely get sick. Conversely (and unfairly), you might instead inherit a tendency to develop diabetes, recurrent strep infections or autoimmune diseases.

However anemic or hardy your innate immune arsenal, it supplies only the broad contours of your bodys resistance to threats. Environmental influences fill in the details, from where you live to your sleeping patterns to your history of previous infections.

In a 2015 Cell study, researchers studied more than 100 pairs of identical twins and how their immune systems responded to the flu shot. About three-quarters of the differences they saw were driven by environmental factors rather than genetic ones. The differences in twins immune systems also grew more pronounced the older they got, suggesting that outside influences continue to shape our immune potential over time.

Some of these influences show up in early childhood and may be hard to offset later on. Researchers have long known that children who live on farms are less likely to develop autoimmune diseases like asthma and allergies. An Ohio State University study from July 2019 hints at one reason why: Farm kids have a more diverse array of gut microbes than city kids, and the presence of some of these gut microbes predicts lower frequencies of immune cells that create allergic inflammation. Broad microbial exposure, in short, appears to train the immune system not to overreact to substances like animal dander.

But regardless of where you grew up, if youre unlucky enough to catch certain disease-causing bugs, they can throw your immunity off balance for years. Cytomegalovirus, a relative of the virus that causes chicken pox, stages its attack by reprogramming the human immune system. Some of the virus proteins latch onto certain immune cells, interfering with their ability to fight invaders. Other proteins, according to research from the University Medical Center Utrecht, interfere with the expression of key human HLA genes. And since cytomegalovirus infections are chronic, the resulting immune deficits can go on indefinitely.

Naturally, you cant control where youre raised or what random pathogens you acquire. But you can control your daily routine, what you put into your body and how you shield yourself against germs. In recent years, scientists have begun a full-fledged push to find out which lifestyle habits actually foster a robust immune system and which may be more hype than substance.

While the overall picture of how diet shapes immunity is still blurred, new studies do hint at the immune-strengthening effects of certain types of foods. Garlic, for instance, contains a sulfur compound called allicin, which spurs production of disease-fighting immune cells like macrophages and lymphocytes in response to threats.

(Credit: Lucky_Find/Shutterstock)

Researchers also report that specific bacteria-containing foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi and kefir produce an immunologically active substance called D-phenyllactic acid. This acid appears to signal immune cells, called monocytes, to report for duty by binding to a receptor protein on the cells surfaces. When people eat sauerkraut, very soon afterward, we see in the blood that theres an increase in the level of this substance, says Leipzig University biologist Claudia Stubert. In future studies, she hopes to clarify exactly how the acid affects monocytes activity in the body.

In addition to tweaking their diets, many titans of immunity embark on intense exercise regimens to keep their health robust. I swim and snorkel year-round in the ocean, up to a mile at a clip, from New England to Miami and a few secluded points in between, says Baron Christopher Hanson, a business consultant who claims he almost never gets sick. But so far, scientific proof that exercise improves immunity is limited. While a new study in rats shows that regular exercise changes the prevalence of different types of immune cells, it isnt clear whether these changes make you less likely to get sick.

Getting your daily quota of shut-eye, however, does seem to boost your immunity. Repeated studies show that sleep revs up your immune response, and a recent one from Germanys University of Tbingen reports that it does so in part by preparing disease-fighting T cells to do their jobs more effectively. Thats because your body churns out more integrins proteins that help T cells attach to germ-infected cells and destroy them while youre asleep.

But while getting more sleep could help snap your streak of winter colds, squirting your palms with hand sanitizer may not. In numerous studies, plain old soap and water was shown to kill germs better than sanitizer does. Hand sanitizer is great for alcohol-susceptible bugs, but not all bugs are susceptible, Mellors points out. Whats more, using sanitizer wont have any lasting effects on your immunity. The moment you touch another germy surface, your thin layer of protection will vanish.

Getting plenty of sleep is one way to boost your immune health: The body preps disease-fighting cells while youre asleep. (Credit: Realstock/Shutterstock)

Champions of immunity tend to credit their daily habits with keeping them healthy. But many have also lucked into an ideal balance between effector T cells, the frontline immune soldiers that fend off pathogens, and regulatory T cells, which keep the bodys immune arsenal in check so it wont over-respond to threats. An overactive immune system can be just as troublesome as an underactive one autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and allergies all stem from an immune response thats too forceful and sustained.

Last year, scientists at Kyoto University in Japan and elsewhere described one potential way to redress this kind of imbalance: turning effector T cells into regulatory T cells in the lab. Autoimmune episodes are triggered by antigens binding to [a] receptor on effector T cells, says molecular biologist Shuh Narumiya, one of the papers authors. When Narumiya and his colleagues used an inhibitor chemical to block an enzyme that controls cell development, cells that would normally develop into effector T cells turned into regulatory T cells instead a tweak that dialed down harmful autoimmune responses in mice.

While not everyone needs such immune fine-tuning, some people could potentially benefit from a treatment based on this technique, Narumiya says. Filling out the ranks of regulatory T cells could someday help keep a range of disabling autoimmune conditions under control.

Regardless of your T cell balance or your immune track record, theres a hefty dose of serendipity involved each time your immune system faces a threat. You might consider yourself forever prone to the flu or sniffles, but an X-factor a cross-country move, a dietary tweak, a new therapy can unexpectedly realign things and boost your immune potential.

By the same token, no matter how stalwart your HLA gene arsenal, how sound your sleep or how scrupulous your hygiene, you can end up knocked flat with a nasty bug when you least expect it. Immune health is like a gigantic roulette wheel. You throw the ball down and where it lands is a matter of chance, Mellors says. You have an encounter with a pathogen, and at the time you get exposed, your front line is not up to snuff. Even titans of immunity can have Achilles heels and even immune systems that seem licked at the beginning can pull off unlikely victories.

(Credit: Andrii Vodolazhskyi/Shutterstock)

Its a recurring theme of the COVID-19 crisis: Those infected with the virus develop vastly different symptoms. Some barely feel anything a scratchy throat, if that while others spend weeks in the ICU with ravaged lungs, unable to breathe on their own. This wide variation in how people respond to SARS-CoV-2 stems, in part, from each persons unique genetic and lifestyle factors that affect their immune function.

Genes: Scientists in Sydney and Hong Kong have found a particular gene variant tied to high rates of severe symptoms of SARS, a coronavirus related to the one that causes COVID-19. Because the novel coronavirus only recently appeared in humans, we dont know exactly which genetic quirks might make us more susceptible to it. Scientists are now investigating whether other specific genes might give some people higher or lower degrees of protection against the virus.

Age and Immune Health: In some older people, or in those who have underlying immune deficits from chronic conditions, regulatory T cells which usually keep immune responses under control do not function normally. When these people get COVID-19, so-called cytokine storms may cause excessive inflammation in the lungs, leading to life-threatening symptoms. A study conducted by researchers in China found that COVID-19 patients with severe illness had lower levels of regulatory T cells in their bloodstream. Children may be less prone to disabling symptoms because their immune systems are better regulated and they have fewer underlying conditions.

Smoking Habits: SARS-CoV-2 uses a cell surface receptor called ACE2 to enter the cells that line your respiratory tract. New research shows that in smokers, these receptors are more prevalent in the lungs, creating more potential access routes for the virus. If you smoke, says Boston Childrens Hospital immunologist Hani Harb, the virus will be able to enter more cells in higher numbers.

Elizabeth Svoboda is a science writer in San Jose, California. Her most recent book is The Life Heroic: How To Unleash Your Most Amazing Self.

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Why Do Some People Get Sick All the Time, While Others Stay in Freakishly Good Health? - Discover Magazine

A Perfect Match: Marcus grad honors late father by saving lives – The Cross Timbers Gazette

Inspired by her fathers battle with lymphoma, Keely Campbell gave the gift of life to a stranger in need. (Photo by Helens Photography)

It was a typical weekend afternoon, and Keely Campbell was busy working the crowd at a local marrow donor registration drive. Volunteering at these events had become a regular thing for the Campbell family, which had an all-hands-on-deck approach to finding matches and saving lives. Perhaps no one embodied that mindset more than Keely.

At 6 years old, she was the youngest and cutest volunteer out there that day so how could anyone possibly tell her no?

I knew how to fill out the forms and how the cheek swab went. So, I registered as many as I could, Keely said with a laugh. Shes now 18 and a Marcus High School 2020 graduate. I was a good little volunteer. They could tell I really wanted to help.

Keelys family included her parents, Stacey and Doug, and older sisters, Meghan and Cassie. And they were perfect voices for how critical it was to educate potential marrow donors on the lifesaving cure of stem cell transplants for patients with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.

A stem cell transplant replaces unhealthy blood-forming cells with healthy ones, and Doug, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2000, was also searching for his own match. Seventy percent of patients do not have a matching donor in their family, so they rely on unrelated donors from places like Be The Match (BTM), the worlds largest and most diverse donor registry with more than 20 million potential donors.

Finding that perfect match isnt easy, though. According to BTM, a patients likelihood of having a matched, available donor on its registry ranges from 23% to 77% and depends on their ethnic background. Doug waited two years before finding his match, and millions more are forced to wait longer. Sadly, Doug died of heart failure in 2015.

Fast forward to today, and Keely hasnt stopped honoring her father by trying to save lives. She and her family still volunteer when called upon, and she added herself to the donor list when she turned 18 in December.

Whats remarkable about Keelys story is that she became someones match only two months later, and because her recipient was a critical case, she completed her donation in a matter of a couple weeks. Thats in stark contrast to Stacey, who has been on the registry since she was 18. Meghan (24) and Cassie (22) both became donors at 18. Keely is the only one of the surviving Campbells to get that all-important call, and she didnt hesitate to say yes.

The people from Be The Match even said that it was insane that I had just signed up and already became a match, Keely said. The day I got that call, I came out of my room, bawling my eyes out. I know what its like to be on the other side. I didnt expect to be a match, but it was important to me that I registered. There are so many people who deserve a fighting chance and not just recipients, but their families, too.

She added, The people at Be The Match made everything incredibly easy. And they were so appreciative.

The importance of staying committed

Doug was an incredibly smart man who was a chemist by day at Abbott Laboratories, where he helped develop medical equipment. But he was known more for being a loving husband and doting father. His selfless attitude and zest for life knew no limits, and one of his favorite hobbies was competing in triathlons and marathons. When he was diagnosed with cancer in 2000, he could have easily folded up his tent. But that wasnt Dougs style and he wanted to impress that on his girls.

Throughout his cancer battle, he and Stacey made the conscious decision to keep their kids informed, insisting that those who are especially children are less likely to be fearful during what would undoubtedly be a difficult journey.

So there was zero hesitation in taking Meghan, Cassie, and even young Keely, along to various marrow donor drives.

It was a way to have some control over something we had little control over, Stacey said. We were hoping there was a reason why we were pulled into a place like this in our lives, and if we could do something for others and advocate for research, then it all had a purpose. Our efforts matched several patients with donors, including two in our church. So even though I had been on the registry for so long without being a match myself, it was nice to know we facilitated other matches. For those people, its a matter of life or death.

From a young age, Keely not only was helping out at these events, but she understood the why behind it.

Every three minutes, someone we know and love is diagnosed with a blood cancer. Every dollar raised and every donor added to the registry helps more patients afford transplants while also increasing the number of potential blood stem cell donors. According to BTM, theyve facilitated more than 100,000 transplants since 1987.

The cells used in transplants come from three sources: marrow, peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC), and umbilical cord blood. About 77% of the time, a patients doctor requests a PBSC donation, a non-surgical, outpatient procedure similar to donating platelets or plasma. Another 23 percent of the time, a patients doctor requests marrow, a surgical, outpatient procedure that takes place at a hospital. A third source of cells used in transplants is cord blood, which is collected from the umbilical cord and placenta immediately after a baby is born. It is stored at a public cord blood bank, and the cord blood unit is listed on the BTM Registry. There is no cost for parents to donate cord blood.

At marrow donor drives, the registration process is as simple as doing a cheek swab. Thats what Keely did, and when she was deemed a match, it didnt take very long to get to donation day. On donation day, she was hooked to a machine as it painlessly drew her blood and extracted the necessary stem cells.

I think I was hooked up to the machine for maybe five hours, Keely said. She was given two shots a day in the four days leading up to her donation to prepare her for the final procedure. That sounds like a long time, but thats five hours of my life and a little discomfort to give someone else the best chance possible of survival. The entire time, all I was thinking about was how the recipient was doing and hoping that I could help them.

Stacey said she couldnt have been more proud of her daughter.

When you get to see your child do something on their own that makes such a difference for another human being in the world, its like, I can die tomorrow Ive done my job, Stacey joked. As a young mom, I prayed over my babies asking God to help me raise them right and not ruin them. For that to be reflected back at me in this way is truly priceless.

Getting the call

When Keely came out of her room after receiving arguably the most rewarding call of her young life, she was quick to share the experience with her mother. She wasnt allowed to know anything about the recipient, but she knew immediately that she was doing the right thing.

My mom and dad were always really good at explaining to my sisters and me how important all of this was. When wed get ready for donor drives, shed say, Dad needs a match, too, so were going to go try and find one, Keely said. Weve talked about it for a very long time, and it wasnt always easy because youre dredging up all of these memories. But it was important to all of us that people know what its like to be a cancer family.

Stacey said the fact that Keely got that call was absolutely one in a million but for different reasons.

Keely was born a year after Doug was first diagnosed. We were told by doctors that it wasnt possible to have any more children because of all of the chemo, Stacey said. So its beautifully ironic that the child who wasnt meant to be my miracle baby is now saving anothers life.

Now that Keely has graduated, shell attend the University of Alabama to study medicine. Her plans are to one day be a pediatric oncologist. In the meantime, she prays to God every day that her decision to be a marrow donor will pay off and maybe one day, lead her to meet that recipient.

Id really like to, Keely said. And I hope they will want to meet me, too.

For more information on how you can be a marrow donor, visit bethematch.org or text CURE153 to 61474.

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A Perfect Match: Marcus grad honors late father by saving lives - The Cross Timbers Gazette

If You Invested $1,000 in Fate Therapeutics’ IPO, This Is How Much Money You’d Have Now – The Motley Fool

If you had invested $1,000 in shares of mid-cap biotech company Fate Therapeutics(NASDAQ:FATE) when it IPO'd, you would have close to $4,823.33 as of markets' close on June 11. That's an astonishing return on investment of 397.5%. In context, the S&P 500 returned 78.8% over the same period.

What's baffling, however, is that the stock's win streak has been entirely ignored by retail investors. In its most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, institutional investors accounted for almost 100% of the company's ownership. Even so, the company managed to garner much institutional interest despite only having its experimental therapies reach phase 1 status. Could the stock continue its winning streak and deliver riches to investors? Let's find out below.

Image Source: Getty Images

Fate Therapeutics has big buyers excited because it's at the forefront of developing the third generation of cellular immunotherapies. Immunotherapies are treatments that use the power of the body's own immune system to control and eliminate cancer. Currently, the method being investigated by biotechs and researchers around the world is chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR T-cell) immunotherapy, which can help save lives but has a huge price tag.Indeed, after overhead costs, mark-ups, and a three-week manufacturing process, one course of CAR T-cell treatment can cost up to $1.5 million.

Luckily, this is where Fate Therapeutics comes to the rescue with its proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology. Using this method, a single stem cell clone can morph into more than 200 different types of cells via genetic engineering, which can then be mass-produced and stored. When cancer patients need a specific type of antibody in their systems, doctors would be able to request the corresponding iPSC on demand from a cell bank.

In previous articles, I discussed the effectiveness of two such therapies,NK100 and FT500, in phase 1 clinical trials. Let's examine yet another one of Fate Therapeutics' promising candidates, FT516.

FT516 is a natural-killer (NK) cell engineered from Fate Therapeutics' master iPSC line with a modified form of the CD16 receptor. Normally, tumor-killing activity from NK cells can be heavily impaired when these cells detach from their targets. FT516, however, is designed to resist detachment upon activation and have a higher affinity for currently approved antibodies that help target cancer cells.

In its phase 1 interim data release, one patient with acute myeloid leukemia who took FT516 (90 million cells per dose) for three weeks as a monotherapy with IL-2 cytokine (cells that regulate the activity of cancer-fighting T-cells) support showed no external evidence of leukemia after treatment.Furthermore, there was evidence of hematopoietic recovery (improvement in the ability to form blood cells of all types), and no circulating leukemia cells were observed in the peripheral blood. FT516 was also found to be well tolerated in this patient.

While the results are very good, observers may rightly point out that the therapy only worked on one patient and has not been compared to current standards of care. However, the patient who recovered after taking FT516 had previously failed multiple rounds of chemotherapy and treatment with standard of care. Hence, it's more likely than not -- save for a miracle -- that the experimental therapy kept the patient alive.

Overall, all three of Fate's pipeline candidates are set to release their clinical data by the end of 2022. Currently, Fate Therapeutics has more than $1.8 billion in potential payouts if these therapies are successful in the development and regulatory stage, and an additional $1.2 billion for hitting certain commercial milestones. The company also has $319 million in cash and investments, including a $100 million cash infusion from Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ) Janssen subsidiary in April. Recently, the company closed another round of equity funding from Johnson and Johnson worth at least $214 million, a move that is highly indicative of the pharma giant's confidence in Fate Therapeutics' future prospects.

Image Source: YCharts

Compared to a quarterly net loss of $33 million, the company's capitalization is superb. I think Fate Therapeutics has some truly amazing candidates in its pipeline and is well positioned to enrich investors with a high risk tolerance.

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If You Invested $1,000 in Fate Therapeutics' IPO, This Is How Much Money You'd Have Now - The Motley Fool

Chase and Sadie get heartbreaking results as his cancer spreads: ‘Promise me you will try’ – IndyStar

Brad and Kelli Smith give an update on their son Chase's health. Scans this week showed more cancer growth. Indianapolis Star

IndyStar is documentingChase and Sadie Smith's lives as they settle into a new marriage and battle Chase's terminal cancer.

Sadie Smith sat outside the hospital, the sunshine streaming down,and she cried. People walked by laughing. Her world felt like it was collapsing.

It's not good, her husband, Chase Smith, had just texted her from his appointment Thursday.

The tumors already invading his body had multiplied. One near his esophagus had grown rapidly. There were new tumors on his thyroid and adrenal glands and many more in his right lung.

Chase almost never cries at appointments, said his mom Kelli Smith. But as he heard the news, tears ran down his face. When the palliative care doctor toldChaseit might betime for hospice, he cried again. So did Kelli.

Their story from the beginning: 'You don't see a love like this'

As Chase and Kellileft Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, he went into the restroom for a long time. He emerged, his face red and swollen.On the car ride home, he was silent.

That night, Sadie turned to her husbandas they laid down to go to sleep."Do you want to talk about anything?" she asked him.

Chase Smith plays gently with the hair of his wife, Sadie, after an interview with Inside Edition by video conference at their home in Bargersville, Ind., on Monday, May 25, 2020. (Photo: Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar)

"Not really," Chase told her. "Do you?"

"I just want to know, 'Are you going to try?'" Sadie said.

Chase had made a promise to Sadie before they married April 29 when he had been giventhree to five months to live.He told her then he would never give up. He told her he never wanted to be away from this earth because that would mean losing Sadie.

"So, he is still willing to do that. Heis not giving up at all," Sadie said Friday, as Chase slept upstairs. "He's willing to try anything and everything he can."

Inside the family's Bargersville kitchen Friday afternoon, Kelli stood with the endless bottles of pills. Next to her was a notepad.

She is the one who knows all of Chase's medical history, his six-year journey with Ewing's sarcoma,and all his medications. With Chase's OK, Kelliwas adding new drugs to the mix.

He started the morning taking a diabetes pill for the first time. Cancer feeds on sugar. This drug willbe almost like putting him on a Keto diet without changing his food intake, Kelli said.

Kelli Smith talks about new medications for her son Chase at their home in Bargersville, Ind., on Friday, June 12, 2020. Since Chase's cancer diagnosis in 2014, Kelli has been the one to keep up with medications. "I'm the only one that does this and I've got to write it down in case I was in a car accident or something," Kelli said as she sorts through the medications. "Nobody would have any idea." (Photo: Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar)

Three days later, Chase will start a de-wormer, the human version. Research has shown it can help kill cancer. In three more days, he will start a cholesterol drug to help break down the cell walls so that the other drugs can get into them. And finally, three days after that, Chase willbegin taking a drug to attack the cancer stem cells.

Traditional treatment hasn't worked. And the cancer is ravaging Chase's body. No one expected it to happen so quickly. Or maybe they did, they just didn't want to think it, said Chase's dad, Brad Smith.

Young, in love and running out of time: Why Chase and Sadie's parents gave their blessing

He stayed home Thursday during Chase's appointment at Riley with Chase's sister Kaitlin. Due to COVID-19 restrictions only Kelli was allowed in the room and the family didn't expect the results they received.

"We were kind of hoping there would be no more tumors at this point," Brad said,"at least not right now."

But as Kelli Facetimed Brad whilethey met with the doctor and Brad saw Kelli sobbing and Chase silent, he turned to Kaitlin.

"I'm leaving," he said. "I'm going."

By the time he got to Riley, Chase and Kelli were out of the hospital walking toward the parking garage. Brad saw Chase's stone face. He just wanted to get home, shower, take pain medication and digest what he had just heard.

Brad knew that, but he tried to hug him. Chase didn't hug him back. Within 40 seconds of being in the car, Brad got a text from Chase that said, "I'm sorry."

Brad told him there was no need for sorry, not one bit of sorry. "I knew he just couldn't," Brad said. "He just couldn't."

Chase turned 19 on June 4, but there was no celebration.He spent his birthday at Riley trying to figure out why he was in so much pain.

After a week at the Cleveland Clinic getting radiation onhis head earlier this month, Chase's health took a turn for the worse last Thursday on his birthday. Hecould barely swallow. When he did, it wasstabbing pain and then a 45-second burn.

He stopped eating. He had a sore throat, heartburn and sores on his throat. Doctors thought he had shingles, a side effect of steroids used for the radiation.

All he could do was liein bed.

"It's been hard the last few days. Chase is just always our comic and keeping us all on our toes and he's just been stuck in bed," said Kelli."Not being able to give him any answers, not being able to give him any idea of how much longer this is going to go on to givehim any direction and hope with it, it's been really difficult."

After the medications not working and days of nothing but water, his doctor at Riley, Melissa K. Bear, told Kelli that Chase should go to Riley's emergency room. Chase can make his own medical decisions now that he's an adult and he refused.

He never wants to be admitted to a hospital again, Kelli said.

But on Thursday, he agreed to see Bear because he knew she wouldn't pressure him. And that's when he got the scans and the heartbreaking results.

Sadie will not leave Chase's side. When they got home from Riley Thursday, she laid with him inbed until he fell asleep, just as she had the week before, as he slept for days.

Every so often, she would get in her Jeep and go on a drive, just for a little bit. And then she would come back and lay with him.

Chase finally told her,"It's OK. This isn't healthy for you to liein bed like this."

After preparing and delivering dinner for the Smiths, family friend Stacie Volz visits and tells a childhood story about Chase Smith and one of her sons on Friday, June 12, 2020. She gives a hug to Sadie before leaving. Every Friday, Volz prepares dinner for the family.(Photo: Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar)

But Sadie wanted to be there.

"I know being by his side calms him and it makes me feel protected when I know he's asleep or he's feeling well," she said. "Weboth promised not to leave each other's side throughout this whole thing. We just feel protected when we're together."

When Chase got up Thursday night, he came downstairs. His family and Sadie and her parents were on the back deck.

He felt well enough to have mashed potatoes, half of a Frosty, five glasses of chocolate milk and a few bites of cucumber. He sat outside and talked, even laughed a little, said Kelli.

"We kind of had our Chaser back," said Brad. "It was therapeutic and healing. It was kind of a breath of relief."

Chase didn't get out of bed most of the day Friday. But as his familysat on the back deck again, they told stories about Chase. What a presence he is. How he always tries to protect them from his pain.

Above them hung a board etched with Chase's favorite Bible verse. Brad said, it gives them hope, even as hope fades.

"Even youths grow tired and weary,and young menstumble and fall; but those who hopein theLord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;they will run and not grow weary,they will walk and not be faint."

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.

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Chase and Sadie get heartbreaking results as his cancer spreads: 'Promise me you will try' - IndyStar

Types of cancers making people more vulnerable to Covid-19 – Nursing in Practice

Before Covid-19, many people told us that being diagnosed with cancer and going through treatment was the scariest thing that they could imagine.

Now, for the thousands of people who are facing a cancer diagnosis in the midst of a global pandemic, their new reality probably feels more frightening and isolating than ever.

The anxieties and concerns of becoming a cancer patient have not gone away theyve been made worse by this crisis. And its even more concerning to think of the vast numbers of people who have yet to be diagnosed.

These are exceptional circumstances for health and care services, which are working incredibly hard to respond to the challenges presented by Covid-19. The NHS made a vital commitment to ensuring that essential and urgent cancer treatment continued through lockdown, but its fair to say that there have been many challenges.

Hundreds of patients will have dealt with delays and changes to their treatment and NHS staff have been under huge pressure to deliver care while many doctors and nurses have themselves been unwell or in isolation.

Some people with cancer may be at a higher risk during the pandemic. According to official NHS advice1, some types of cancers and cancer treatments have been outlined as making people more vulnerable to Covid-19. This includes those who:

Are having chemotherapy or antibody treatment for cancer, including immunotherapy

Are having an intense course of radiotherapy (radical radiotherapy) for lung cancer

Are having targeted cancer treatments that can affect the immune system (such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors)

Have blood or bone marrow cancer (such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma)

Have had a bone marrow or stem cell transplant in the past sixmonths, or are still taking immunosuppressant medicine

Are taking medicine that makes them much more likely to get infections (such as high doses of steroids or immunosuppressant medicine).

Its important to note that there are other factors that could make someone with cancer more at risk from the coronavirus.

For example, age is a key factor - in the majority of cases the most common age range for patients to be diagnosed with cancer is 59-672, and older age groups are generally more vulnerable to Covid-19.

Most of the deaths from the coronavirus have been people aged over 653. In addition, many people with cancer are also living with other health conditions that increase their risk from the virus, such as heart disease and diabetes.

It is vital that cancer does not become the forgotten C during this pandemic. We know that some people may have been nervous about contacting their GP with possible cancer symptoms or concerned about attending appointments due to fear of contracting coronavirus or concerns of adding pressure on the NHS.

Its important healthcare professionals remind anyone who is experiencing any signs or symptoms of cancer that they should contact their GP as soon as possible4. And we would urge health professionals to support those diagnosed with cancer by informing them to continue with their current treatment, care plan and attend all appointments as planned, unless the patient is specifically advised not to by their healthcare team.

Health professionals up and down the country are doing a fantastic job providing vital care. However, we acknowledge that these are challenging times. Therefore, maintaining good wellbeing is paramount and we encourage professionals to talk about their emotions with either their colleagues, friends or family.

For nurses supporting people living with cancer there are number of places you can visit for advice and to sign post cancer patients to, Check in with your local health teams for the latest coronavirus advice either via your Cancer Alliance and/or local council websites. OrMacmillan provides:

Despite the global pandemic people continue to be diagnosed with cancer, and if cancer doesnt stop than neither can we. The last few months have been incredibly difficult and demanding on nurses. However, I am personally touched by the incredible efforts shown by healthcare professionalsto help those with the coronavirus and those living with cancer.

References:

1 https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/people-at-higher-risk/whos-at-higher-risk-from-coronavirus/

2 https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/incidence/age#heading-Zero

3 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarri...

4 https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/nice_-_suspected_ca...

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Types of cancers making people more vulnerable to Covid-19 - Nursing in Practice

Irish dad with rare form of cancer would have died within a week if he didn’t go to hospital – Irish Mirror

When Eoin OBrien found out he had a rare form of cancer, he was told he would have died within a week had he not gone to hospital.

Now, five years on, the dad of four is remarkably free of the disease.

Eoins life changed in May 2015 when he went to A&E with chest pains.

He was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma, which causes abnormal growth of cells in the lymphatic system.

Due to fluid build-up, Eoins heart would have suffocated within days had he not been treated.

And after half a decade of pain and suffering, he is finally in remission.

The news came on his wife Karens birthday, making it all the more special for the pair and their daughters Sophie, 13, Abbie, 11, Maddie, eight, and three-year-old Emelie.

Karen said: To say that that was the best news ever would be an understatement, I would rather be told that 10 times over than even win the lotto.

Eoin was only 31 when he was diagnosed following a hospital visit after he started getting pains in his chest.

Doctors drained three-and-a-half litres of fluid from his chest and found a tumour between his lungs and heart.

After his first round of chemo didnt work, Eoin found a lump on his neck.

He was started on a higher dose of chemo which was, in his wife Karens opinion, the hardest one on him.

She explained: Eoin got the moon-face, he got the cancer look. Darkness under the skin of his eyes and that.

The pair hoped this treatment was working but were disappointed again when doctors told them it hadnt.

Two years later in 2017, when Karen was pregnant with Emelie, Eoin still wasnt responding to treatments.

He was due to go into hospital after his daughter was born for a planned stem cell transplant which was later cancelled.

The pair fought to get Eoin immunotherapy, which slowed down but didnt cure his cancer.

In 2019, he was told he could get an allogeneic stem cell transplant from a donor. Karen explained: So on the 6th of November, which we now class as Eoins re-birthday, he was given the transplant and he became so, so bad.

Eoin was at the stage where he wanted to give up. He didnt want to live anymore, he didnt want to go through it anymore.

Results of a scan in February had alarming results which left the two terrified the cancer had spread.

Thankfully, it was only an infection.

Eoin was hospitalised for six weeks and due to the coronavirus, wasnt allowed outside or to have visitors.

In May, the pair were given the news his transplant worked.

Karen said: Theres been a lot of ups and a lot of downs but were finally out the other side, so hopefully we can look forward to many, many years cancer-free.

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Irish dad with rare form of cancer would have died within a week if he didn't go to hospital - Irish Mirror

They Put Him Back Together Again – University of Michigan Health System News

When Greg Aikens woke up from a coma after a seven-story fall from a parking garage, he was understandably confused.

I slowly began to realize how severe the situation was, says Aikens, a 22-year-old student at the University of Michigan. I woke up eight days after the fall and it was very confusing. It was hard to tell whether the things happening around me were real or just in my head.

The accident, in October 2016, left Aikens unconscious with a frightening list of injuries: a shattered left elbow, open fractures in both tibias and fibulas in his legs, fractures in his left foot and right ankle, a severed pelvis injury, and damage to his chest, bladder and liver, among other injuries to his arteries, skin and head.

He was rushed to Michigan Medicine where he immediately went into the operating room for surgery to his intra-abdominal organs and blood vessels. He would need multiple surgeries to repair all of the damage followed by an extended stay in the Michigan Medicine Trauma Burn Center Intensive Care Unit.

It was a very complex case because of the number of injuries he had sustained and the severity of those injuries, says Jill Cherry-Bukowiec, M.D., an associate professor of surgery at Michigan Medicine and Aikens first surgeon.

The first few days of Aikens time spent at Michigan Medicine was what James Goulet, M.D., a professor of orthopaedic trauma surgery and the lead on Aikens orthopaedic procedures, called the limb- and life-saving phase.

After Cherry-Bukowiec and team performed an exploratory laparotomy, a surgery to open the abdomen and examine the abdominal organs, they were able to repair Aikens damaged gastrointestinal organs and created a temporary colostomy to be used while the organs were healing.

Next, Chandu Vemuri, M.D., an assistant professor of vascular surgery at Michigan Medicine, performed a vascular surgery in which he repaired the posterior tibial artery, the artery that carries blood down to the bottom of the leg and foot, in Aikens right calf.

That surgery was critical to saving Gregs right foot, Goulet says. Without the expertise of Dr. Vemuri and his team, we would have had to consider amputating Gregs foot.

Even though Aikens was in a coma and on a ventilator, he had experienced trauma to his head during the accident that required him to undergo intracranial pressure monitoring, a procedure where a probe is inserted through the skull to measure how much pressure is in the brain. If the pressure is too high, it can lead to serious brain and nervous system injury. Aikens results showed his brain pressure appeared fine.

Over the next few days, Aikens had multiple orthopaedic surgeries to fix the injuries in his back, legs, arm and foot.

Gregs pelvic injury was more complicated than a typical pelvic ring injury, Goulet says. The injury extended into his lower spine, which occurs almost exclusively in high-energy injuries. We used plates and screws to secure the pelvic fractures.

Goulet also says that Aikens nerve injuries were a serious concern.

The neurosurgical team coordinated with us to stabilize the spine adjacent to the pelvis and to decompress the nerve roots, he says. When you have an injury like Greg had in the lower back region, the team wont know at the time if he experienced central or peripheral nervous system injury. If he experienced a central nervous system injury, theres little chance of that being restored. Luckily, it was mainly peripheral nervous injury in his back, which meant much of his muscle function could be restored over time.

In addition to Goulet, Aikens orthopaedic surgery care team included James Carpenter, M.D., Aaron Perdue, M.D., Aidin Eslam Pour, M.D., Paul Talusan, M.D., and Jeffrey Lawton, M.D. He also had a skin graft performed by plastic surgeon Adeyiza Momoh, M.D.

Greg is the reason we do what we do, Goulet says. It speaks to how severe his injuries were that we needed to involve so many different physicians and specialties from across Michigan Medicine to make sure he received the best care possible. All of the care providers, not just physicians, are called to intervene at unscheduled and often late hours, and do this without hesitation for our patients.

Eight days after the accident and with many surgeries behind him, Aikens began to come out of his coma.

The doctors had warned us that he might not be the same when he woke up, says Linda Aikens, Gregs mother. But as soon as he opened his eyes, we knew it was still Greg. His humor started coming back over the next few days and thats when we really knew it was the same Greg.

Aikens also required so much blood over the course of his stay in the hospital that Linda makes it a goal to give blood as much as possible because she knows how much it can help those that need it.

Each surgery really brought success and life back to Greg, Linda says. The nursing care was unbelievable. And when Dr. Matthew Delano was slowly weaning him off of the ventilator and taking out staples, stitches, catheters and casts over the coming weeks, I still remember him saying to me that he wished all patients were as determined to heal as Greg.

Aikens adds, The one-on-one care from my physicians really made a difference for me in recovery.

In addition, the Aikens family found support in their community and from family friend, Kim Eagle, M.D., a cardiologist and a director of the Frankel Cardiovascular Center at Michigan Medicine.

The waiting room was constantly filled with students, friends and family sitting vigil with us through the grueling days of surgeries and the agony of the unknown, Linda says.

And she mentions support even came sometimes from where they least expected it.

My husband, Bruce, left defeated one night after a particularly brutal day and he said see you tomorrow to the valet attendant, Linda says. The attendant said that was a good thing because that meant Greg was still alive. Everyone made such an impression on us, down to the tiniest things.

After weeks in the hospital, Aikens was cleared to go home and start his recovery.

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They Put Him Back Together Again - University of Michigan Health System News