Stem Cell Clinic

Boldly Go! My Journey in Stem Cell Therapy – Health Link …

Carolyn Hastings

Patient Update

Carolyn Hastings sent us this fascinating followup piece written 9 months after the stem cell procedure she had performed on her knee by Dr. Paul Handleman here at Health Link Medical Center.

By Carolyn Hastings

I am living proof! I admit to being a little bit of a risk-taker, but it has always served me well. I had Radial Keratotomy performed when I knew no one who had. It has been so long ago that unless youre my age you probably havent even heard of it. RK was the precursor to Laser Eye Surgery. I talked a friend into having it done the same day, so I wouldnt be alone. What can I say, a few minutes in surgery and I was 20/20! So, here I am again, living proof!

Its funny how fearful we can be of the unknown, yet all around us limits are being stretched. I live with my phone in one hand and my iPad in the other. I read on Facebook about drones and rifles that shoot around corners. My real camera sits on the shelf gathering dust. Dont get me wrong, I dont jump out of perfectly good airplanes or ski off mountains that I cant get to without a helicopter but that may be because Im a little old for that kind of stuff!

My age brought me to why Im writing this story. A few months ago I had Stem Cell Therapy to rebuild the cartilage in my knee, but let me back up a little. Five years ago I had a Total Knee Replacement done on my right knee. I was scheduled to have my left knee replaced within a few months as well. I know that everyone has a little different outcome to Total Knee Replacements but mine was tough, tough enough that I immediately cancelled my second surgery and started looking for an alternative. Thats probably where this story should have begun. I looked and I looked, but to no avail. The Orthopedic world was working on it but to me it felt like more of the same. I talked to everyone that would talk to me. Almost everyone I spoke with was desperately trying to affirm their decision for having the surgery, but if you caught them in an honest moment, many had issues. As I look back, I truly dont remember any of the doctors explaining the literal brutality of the surgery. If they did, it would probably dramatically diminish the number of surgeries they perform. They dont talk much about the fact that it is virtually impossible to kneel on a metal knee. I never realized how much I would miss that simple act.

About four years into my quest for an alternative, a friend of mine mentioned someone she knew who had gone the stem cell route. Afterwards, I couldnt even remember who told me but Google Search became my best friend! My research kept me awake until the wee hours of the morning many nights. I was learning about the amazing world of stem cells.

There were articles from around the world and right in my own backyard. There were high profile people who had seen amazing results. Governor Rick Perry had a stem cell procedure done on his back while campaigning for President. Professional athletes were back on the field in record time after procedures on knees, backs and shoulders. Stem cell therapy is one of the best kept secrets in the medical arena.

You may wonder why you havent heard more about it. Number one is that at this point stem cell procedures are considered investigational and experimental by most insurance companies. Right now you may be thinkingwhoa! Dont stop reading, not just this article but if you or someone you love needs this, read everything you can get your hands on.

Because the procedure uses our own stem cells the FDA does not regulate them and most insurance companies dont cover the procedure. Keep reading! In most cases this is not a deal breaker. Later in this article I am going to go through the old Ben Franklin decision making formula of Pros and Cons with you.

Let me tell you how my procedure worked. I located a clinic in San Rafael that appeared to be what I was looking for. I researched Health Link Medical Centers/Regenexx and found out everything I possibly could about them. We are so fortunate in the Bay Area to have a facility nearby. This group has been doing this type of procedure for several years and have more experience than any other clinic I researched. I called and made an appointment with Dr. Paul Handleman, D.O. Yes, he is an Orthopedic Doctor who specializes in Regenerative Interventional Orthopedics. They asked if I had a MRI and if so, to bring it with me. My personal physician had ordered one for me so I was on my way. Dr. Handleman put my MRI up on a large screen and while we looked at it together, he told me about the procedure and answered my questions. He then did an ultrasound on my knee pointing out issues that couldnt be seen on my MRI. After I left, I had a few more questions that he willingly answered over the phone. I had made up my mind. Since I was a candidate, it was the answer to my search.

Let me share a few of the things I learned about Stem Cell Therapy. Number one, from what Ive read it is a bit of a political hot potato. In my opinion, the medical lobbyists have done a great job keeping it at bay. The average Total Knee Replacement will have a cost of $75,000-$100,000. This includes everything from hospital stays to operating rooms, to the various medical professionals involved to after-care and rehabilitation. Then you have drugs, crutches, walkers (oh my!) Let me just say, it is BIG Business. My Stem Cell Therapy was a total of four visits to the doctor. The first visit was my consultation. The actual procedure is a three visit process over a period of approximately a week.

The first of the three visits was very quick. The doctor answered my last minute questions and then did something I thought rather unusual. He anesthetized my knee and put several shots of what amounted to sugar water in the places I needed to grow back the cartilage and repair ligaments. The purpose of this is to literally make these areas angry so when the stem cells are injected they know where to go.

The second of the visits was two days later. I was nervous. I had heard stories from people who had donated stem cells and Im not sure if mine was different or the people that had shared had embellished but it was enough to create the nervousness. They first drew blood. They used the platelets from the blood for what is called Plasma Rich Platelets or PRP. The PRPs by themselves were some of the stem cells used for procedures. The Doctor then numbed my lower back to extract the Stem Cells from my Iliac Crest. This has proven to be the absolute best Stem Cells in our bodies.

This process actually turned out to be pretty funny. I credit a little white pill given to be by the doctor and a system that is pretty clean (other than my borderline sugar addiction) for the humor in that day. It seems that I was feeling no pain when the doctor did the extraction. My son, who was sitting in the waiting room, could hear me singing my heart out all during the procedure. He told me later when I asked, that probably everyone in the eight story building could have heard me singing and laughing.

After a nice lunch with my son, I returned to the actual stem cell injections into my knee. While we were having lunch the medical team was concentrating those cells in a lab. Regenexx SD is the process. I left that day on crutches with a couple of pain pills, just in case. There was some pain involved with the procedure but I had been getting Cortisone shots every three months directly into my knee. I was hoping to never have to get another one! I was instructed to not do a lot of walking for a couple of days. I had scheduled my procedure over a long weekend. Dr. Handleman had given me his cell phone number and told me to not hesitate to call.

I went back for my third and last appointment a few days later. The doctor drew some more blood and gave me booster shots in my knee of the stem cells. I was done. I went back to work. My knee has gradually (its growing) gotten better and better. They had told me that the growth is at least a year -long process. It has now been 9 months.

It is a little strange how you qualify the recovery. I havent had a cortisone shot in a year. When I had them before I would be great for 2-3 weeks and by the time I could get another one, I would hardly be walking. I used to schedule my injections around events or travel where I knew I would need to walk a lot. Now it just gets easier and easier. I love going to church but the congregation stands while they sing. This is sometimes 30 minutes. I just couldnt do that before. Now, I stand for the whole time and dont even think about it. I also belong to a group who collects donations for our troops every month. I can now stand for the whole 2 hour shift. Everywhere I turn there is living proof that my body is healing itself.

Lets go back to Ben Franklin. On the Pro Side I hadnon-surgical, little or no recovery time, less pain, no prolonged time away from work or commitments resulting in less loss of income, very little help needed, no aftereffects, can have it done more than once to get a better result over time, and traditional surgery is still an option if it doesnt work.

The Con Side is shorter. Will it work? Private Pay. Fear of the unknown. Process takes a year. Even after I decided, I thought long and hard about the private pay aspect. I began actually running the numbers. I called my insurance company to see what my total co-pays would be for the traditional surgery. Thats when I found out what the Total Knee Replacement cost was. With Obamacare now in place the numbers seemed to get higher and higher and no one seemed to be able to give me a clear picture. The Health Link Medical Center group gave me clear numbers. It would cost me approximately $6,200. The co-pays on the traditional procedure werent that far off and with the Stem Cell procedure I was back to work much faster not interrupting my income flow.

If you are going to opt for the Stem Cell Procedure, I would highly recommend getting on a high grade nutritional supplement as soon as possible. I have been taking great supplements for several years and rarely get sick. Little did I know that my supplements would warrant me the nickname at the clinic of Stem Cell Queen? It seems that the extra nutrition plus good hydration before the procedure provided over a billion stem cells in the extraction!

Even though I did my research and due diligence, I have intentionally not gone into the more scientific aspect of Stem Cell procedures. I am not a scientist, nor a doctor, just a very grateful patient. Between the Health Link and Regenexx websites and others (UC Davis has an amazing program) you can learn as much or as little as you like. Now, BOLDLY GO!

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Wild new microchip tech could grow brain cells on your skin – CNET

Researchers demonstrate a process known as tissue nanotransfection (TNT). When it comes to healing, this TNT is the bomb.

It's usually bad news to have something growing on your skin, but new technology uses that all important layer as a sort of garden to "grow" whatever types of cells your body might need to treat an injury or disease, be it in a limb or even the brain.

Researchers atthe Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centerhave developed a nanochip that uses a small electrical current to deliver new DNA or RNA into living skin cells, "reprogramming" them and giving them a new function.

"It takes just a fraction of a second. You simply touch the chip to the wounded area, then remove it,"Chandan Sen, director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies at Ohio State, said in a statement. "At that point, the cell reprogramming begins."

In a study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, Sen's team used a technology called Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT) to create new blood vessels in pigs and mice with badly injured limbs that lacked blood flow.

They zapped the animals' skin with the device, and within about a week, active blood vessels appeared, essentially saving the creatures' legs. The tech was also used to create nerve cells from skin that were then harvested and injected into mice with brain injuries to help them recover.

"By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced," Sen said. "We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining."

While it sounds futuristic, reprogramming skin cells is not a new idea. The ability to change skin into pluripotent stem cells, sometimes called "master" cells, earned a few scientists a Nobel Prize half a decade ago. But the new nanochip approach improves upon that discovery by skipping the conversion from skin to stem cell and instead converting a skin cell into whatever type of cell is desired in a single step.

"Our technology keeps the cells in the body under immune surveillance, so immune suppression is not necessary," Sen says.

By now I think we've all learned that beauty is only skin deep, but it might take a while to learn that the same could go for cures, at least if the system works just as well on people.

Next up, the scientists hope to find out by continuing to test their technology in human trials. The aim is that it could eventually be used to treat all sorts of organ and tissue failure, including diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimers.

Crowd Control: A crowdsourced science fiction novel written by CNET readers.

Solving for XX:The tech industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about "women in tech."

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Wild new microchip tech could grow brain cells on your skin - CNET

Techshot system headed to space – Evening News and Tribune

GREENVILLE Onboard the next SpaceX cargo spacecraft launching to the International Space Station (ISS) from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center will be a commercial research system owned and operated by Techshot Inc. The equipment will conduct regenerative medicine experiments onboard the station before returning to Earth in the same capsule for a splashdown off the coast of Southern California approximately 30 days later.

Techshots ADvanced Space Experiment Processor (ADSEP) is a device approximately the size of a microwave oven that contains three separate modules, each of which simultaneously can process experiments in three separate on-orbit replaceable automated mini-laboratory cassettes. Two of the three cassettes on the mission will conduct research for a team led by Robert Schwartz, Ph.D., from the University of Houston.

Funded by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the study will evaluate a new approach to growing human tissue for transplant. The microgravity environment onboard the ISS could improve cell growth and development and 3D tissue formation, enabling discoveries that will advance translational disease treatments. Previous studies on Earth by Schwartz and his collaborators at the Texas Heart Institute and the Baylor College of Medicine have found that low gravity environments help specially programmed stem cells move toward becoming new heart muscle cells, which may be used to repair damaged hearts on Earth.

The third cassette contains an experiment conducted by and for Techshot itself. The company is developing a 3D bioprinter for the ISS known as the Techshot BioFabrication Facility (BFF), which it expects to launch to the station near the end of 2018. Critical to the success of the printer will be the ability to provide nutrients and mechanical stress for organs and tissues it manufactures in space strengthening them and keeping them viable for transplantation back on Earth.

Approximately 36 hours prior to launch, Techshot scientists in a laboratory at the Kennedy Space Center will 3D print a one centimeter thick construct consisting of stem cells and heart muscle cells. Theyll then place it inside the prototype BFF cell culturing subsystem, which for this mission is temporarily housed inside an ADSEP cassette. The printer used in the lab will be the same modified nScrypt unit that was the first to 3D print cardiac constructs with adult human stem cells in microgravity aboard an aircraft in parabolic flight. Video captured inside the cassette during the month-long experiment, and the tissue itself which is expected to have developed its own micro blood vessels will be evaluated for effectiveness after return from space.

Techshots space bioprinting program leverages its terrestrially based technologies for cell isolation and vascular graft development, and its decades long experience culturing cells in space, said Techshot Chief Scientist Eugene Boland, Ph.D., in a news release. Being able to test our novel approach for culturing 3D printed cells more than a year before we fly the whole BFF is invaluable. The data from this mission will get us one step closer toward our goal of helping eliminate organ shortages.

Founded in 1988, Techshot Inc., develops technologies used in the aerospace, defense and medical industries. Through its Space Act Agreement with NASA, and its role as an official CASIS Implementation Partner, the company provides equipment and services that help federal, institutional and industrial customers live and work in space. http://www.Techshot.space

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Techshot system headed to space - Evening News and Tribune

Temple native’s sickle cell case to be featured on Discovery program – Temple Daily Telegram

Deidra Flowers-Williams ended up in Building 10 of the National Institutes for Health in 2015 because she was out of options.

Flowers-Williams had sickle cell anemia and the toll it had taken on her body over the years had left her in constant pain and too weak to walk from her bed to the bathroom.

After a stem cell transplant at the NIH hospital on Nov. 19, 2015, Flowers is free of the disease and has not had a sickle cell crisis since the procedure.

Her story, along with three other NIH patients, is the subject of the three-part documentary, First in Human, airing tonight on the Discovery Channel. Flowers-Williams story will be featured in the third segment on Aug. 24.

Narrated by Jim Parsons of the Big Bang Theory, the series follows the diverse patients as they participate in a First in Human trial the initial time when a new therapy is tested in humans.

Deciding to pursue a spot in a medical trial can be daunting. There are lots of hoops to jump through to get accepted and there is always the chance that nothing will change or it might kill you, Flowers-Williams said.

She was willing to take the risk.

Tanisha Flowers, her sister, provided the stem cells. The sisters were a 100 percent match.

Sickle cell anemia is a disease in which the body produces abnormally shaped red blood cells. The cells are shaped like a crescent or sickle. They don't last as long as normal, round red blood cells. This leads to anemia. The sickle cells also get stuck in blood vessels, blocking blood flow. This can cause pain and organ damage.

Flowers-Williams was No. 43 in the NIH clinical trial on using stem cells to cure sickle cell in adults. The first transplant took place about 13 years ago and that patient is alive and free of sickle cells.

Flowers-Williams returns to the NIH every six months for a checkup.

On my last visit, everything was good, she said.

Shes had to get all-new immunizations since her slate was swept clean when her sisters stem cells took over.

The therapy couldnt fix what was damaged before the stem cell transplant.

You know I lived with sickle for 39 to 40 years and Im so grateful to be here today, Flowers-Williams said.

She said her success is hope for individuals with sickle cell anemia.

There is medical work being done that can ease our suffering, she said.

Flowers-Williams said she was excited about the series because it highlights the NIH and its work.

Those scientists and researchers are working every day to cure diseases and sickle cell is only one of many, she said. I believe the stories of the four patients will touch people and bring focus to the institution.

The research center has already come up with another treatment for sickle cell patients who dont have a stem cell match, Flowers-Williams said.

Prior to my treatments I had no prior knowledge of what they did, Flowers-Williams said. This has opened up a whole new world for me. Im so happy the National Institutes of Health is getting this exposure.

Flowers-Williams has a job, an impossibility for years. Her teenage children have a new mother.

They have only known me as being sick, she said. Were making new memories.

Ethel Flowers, a nursing instructor at Temple College, her daughter and family were in Los Angeles recently to promote First in Human.

Dee Dee was on a panel with the other patients discussing their experiences, Flowers said. They asked everybody on the panel questions, but I only focused on her.

Flowers said the family has viewed bits and pieces of the series, but havent seen it in its entirety.

The producers were supposed to send me the program on a DVD, because I told them I was old school, Flowers said. As of Wednesday the DVD hadnt arrived.

Her daughter is doing great, according to Flowers.

She has normal people problems now, like arthritis, she said.

Over a period of a year, film crews from the Discovery Channel were embedded within the hospital and followed four patients who volunteered to participate in experimental treatments in the hopes they will help them, or others in the future. The series also follows the doctors and nurses who carry out the research while caring for the patients.

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Temple native's sickle cell case to be featured on Discovery program - Temple Daily Telegram