Dr Jeff Bradstreet, MD, MD(H), FAAFP

Autologous Stem Cells plus Platelet Enriched Plasma for Degenerative Knee Disease: Immediate Relief of Pain Reported

This story comes directly from the patient’s communication regarding her outcome from adipose derived stem cells with PRP (platelet factors) for her degenerative knee disease. First, a little background: we are talking about a 49 year old mother of child with autism, whose husband is stationed in abroad. For 14 months she has been in moderate to severe pain in her right knee.  She had an injury when her autistic child fell on her knee damaging the meniscus and the medial collateral ligament of that joint.  Following surgical removal of the damaged portion of the meniscus she had pain so bad she was getting to the point of accepting her orthopedic surgeon’s suggestions to do a total knee replacement.

Think about that for a moment: mother of a child with autism having major joint replacement surgery while her husband is in Japan.  Rehabilitation from that surgery is painful and protracted. 

So, we discussed the option of using her own adipose (fat) derived mesenchymal stem cells, combined with her own platelets in an attempt to prevent serious surgery.  She was already familiar with stem cells after using them for her child. But those stem cells were only available in Ukraine and their techniques were not joint specific treatments.

We discussed the options available and she decided self-donated stem cells made the most sense.  She required only local anesthesia and drove herself home after the procedure. Immediately prior the procedure we used hyperbaric therapy at 2.2 ATA to increase the stem cell yield (based on previously published literature). Here are excerpts of several emails being posted with permission.

FRIDAY: DAY ONE – A few hours after the procedure.

“Hi Dr. B,

I had bumper-to-bumper traffic nearly the entire return trip home in Friday frightfest rush hour, so I finally got home a bit after 7 PM and received your message.

I had no pain or problems driving with regards to my tummy or knee.  Since I’ve been home, my tummy has been oozing some more liquid but there is no soreness or bruising.  I’m still a bit white in the injection area but I have full feeling with no numbness.  As for my knee, I don’t feel any significant pain; I would describe the pain more as stiffness and minor soreness.  You were able to get a good deal of stem cells/PRP into the swollen problem area from my surgery (which we saw at the office) — the area still has fullness there. (She went into the lab with me as we isolated the cells so she could see the yield from the small amount of fat we removed.)

So, I’m doing great with the worst part of the procedure being the drive home!   THANKS SO MUCH for doing the procedure for me.  Let’s hope for the best — I want to avert a knee replacement for as long as I possibly can!”

SATURDAY: Day 2.

“Hi Dr. B,

I’m still doing good with the only pain (minor) that I have is the incision above my belly button where you inserted the cannula.  The “poke” marks around that area are now visible (pink/mildly red) but don’t hurt.  I’m still a bit stiff but not sore around my knee so all is well!  I’ll keep you posted and we’ll see you in a couple of weeks!”  The poke marks are where I inserted a combination of dilute salt water with anesthetic.

MONDAY: Day 4.

“Hi Dr B,

You’ve given me a great birthday present today — to be nearly pain-free in my knee for the 1st time in 14 months since I tore my meniscus and had subsequent surgery.  I had recently scheduled an in-office appointment with you on Monday the 17th for my son in case he neededit, but he’s doing great, so we’ll only need to discuss the next steps for my knee.

I still have the instability issue that we discussed and limp due to the tightness that developed following surgery last December.  But, I’m not sure whether I limp because I’ve been doing it for so long that I need to re-train myself to walk correctly.  I’ll be setting up one of my husband’s indoor bike trainers to begin exercising my legs regularly to help address the tightness issues and strengthen my leg which I’m sure will help.

In regards to my tummy, the soreness is now virtually gone except for some tenderness at the incision point, which has sealed nicely.  I think the most “painful” (which was only a mild soreness) part of the procedure was the liposuction.  The injection into my knee area was only momentarily painful a couple of times, but otherwise, the injection and afterwards was not painful or sore for me.  Prior to the procedure, my knee pain had become so bad that I was on the verge of acquiescing to my ortho’s strong push for replacement — glad I didn’t do it!

FYI – Should you be interested, the GA Aquarium gives residents free admission on their birthdays, so I’m treating myself to a day there.  So, we’re off !”

TUESDAY: Day 5.

We talked on the phone so I don’t have an email to insert, but the conversation went like this. Despite spending the day walking at the Georgia Aquarium she had minimal discomfort.  Prior to the stem cells she admitted she would have been miserable. The minor outpatient procedure took about 4 hours total and was obviously easy.

No one can predict how long this procedure will help her, but for know at least she is happy to not have had major surgery and to be able to easily care for her child’s special needs.

This is what she has at least for now avoided. Knee replacement surgery is a major procedure.

The next step for her will be to use a simple process to improve stability in the medical ligament complex.  Eventually, we may use some additional self-donated stem cells to enhance that recovery process as well.

Back from Europe with Lots to Share

After 10 days in Europe with several of my research collaborators I have lots to share.  Right now I am still jet lagged, but I will share my observations in the next few days.

In the meantime, enjoy some of what I enjoyed.

Punting on the Cam River (as in Cambridge) [punt means boat for you non-Brits)

Kings College in Cambridge

Kings College Chapel

Enjoying Hamleys Toy Store in London

Before Lecture at Brunel University with Treating Autism Trust

Westminster and Parliament – London

Aaron’s version of sensory integration at Paris Airport.

Ok its McD’s and normally I am not a fan, but in Ukraine the quality is much better and even the ketchup has no high fructose corn syrup – although we brought our own organic ketchup.  Generally the food quality is Ukraine is incredible – especially fruits and veges.

Working with my colleagues at the GcMAF production center in Europe.

More parent observations on the combined benefits of GcMAF and EmCell stem cells.

The hardest thing to do as a parent of a child with autism is to keep trying and to not lose hope. The following story is also available at www.Marilynfundraising.org. I asked if it was ok to post and her parents agreed to share the information with all of you. Marilyn Rose is now almost 6 and in April, 2012 she had her first course of EmCell therapies using fetal derived stem cells.  She was a tough kid to get response from and at 5 plus years old she essentially had no language and was in her own world.  With persistent parents who refused to give up the family put together the funds to get stem cell therapies and to provide GcMAF at low doses to support her immune system.  The combination (persistence, GcMAF, and Stem Cells) is paying off. Here is her story.

Hi Valentino and Dr. Bradstreet,
We are very excited to give you Marilyn’s more recent update.  When I last wrote EmCell in May, we were thrilled because Marilyn was imitating vowel sounds with prompting (after having a baseline of mostly nonverbal, only speaking a word every few months).  Marilyn has developed so much more since May!!

Marilyn now repeats any and almost all words, and this month has started with spontaneous speech and singing!!  She is now fully potty trained and brings herself to the bathroom independently to use the restroom.  She uses utensils with all meals (pre-stem cell treatment she had using a spoon on her therapy plan for a year and without making any gains).  She also learned to swim in the past 2 months.  She shows such a deeper level of thinking now, as an example, she will pick out her own clothes and is even starting to dress herself independently (she never showed interest in clothes before treatment and would not assist in dressing herself).

We are so happy to see such progress for Marilyn and are so thankful to EmCell and Dr. Bradstreet for helping us get this far.  We are also excited to see what the upcoming months hold for her.

We just finished a week of Dolphin Therapy in Key Largo and have applied for horse therapy next!!  I’ve attached two of Marilyn’s pictures from her time at Island Dolphin Care.

Thank you for all of your help!!
Heather

Contrasting Stem Cell Options in Autism

Picture: Neuronal (brain) Stem Cells

I’ve written a lot about our possible stem cell options on this blog, for Autism Science Digest and even chapters in scientific books, but nothing contrasts and compares our choices like the real world experiences of our children.

The young man I will present to you next is currently 12 years old. He had a prior history of autoantibodies to his blood vessels and had proven to be only slowly responsive to a wide variety of therapies when it came to spontaneous language.

In September of 2011 he had autologous (his own) stem cells harvested from his adipose and re-implanted in a clinic in the Dominican Republic.  This did seem to help his GI issues and calm his food allergies.  It did not result in changes in his language.

After his stem cell implant in the DR, I suggested we measure nagalase activity (viral protein marker) and it cam back elevated.  We started GcMAF to prepare his body for a second round of stem cells.  However, after his first course, his parents heard a lecture of mine on Fetal Stem Cells and the differences they presented over adipose (fat) derived stem cells.

They elected to pursue stem cells at EmCell in Ukraine. My logic was simply this; fetal stem cells create the growth factors and signals a child’s existing stem cells (living in his own brain) need to activate and then to potentially repair his brain.

The following email came from the child’s mother about 3 weeks after fetal stem cells were transplanted at the EmCell center in Kiev. After reading this, if you are interested in more information please contact my office and we can find time to discuss this further. 

FROM HIS MOTHER

hello everyone,

i contemplated on waiting for “more remarkable” improvements before posting my first update but a lot you have emailed and called….. so i thought to myself, these may be small improvements, but to other parents who have severely autistic children, these are major feats for them. some of you are on your way to EmCell treatments for your kiddos to so here you go!

1. He was able to tolerate sightseeing for hours and hours. after 2 days of Stem Cells (SC), we had time on the 3rd day to walk around kiev. matt walked a total of 3.5 km in a span for 5 hours. i couldn’t walk back another 3.5 km so we grabbed a cab back to our hotel. even at disneyland, we would have to get him a jogger stroller because he doesn’t tolerate walking for a long period of time.

2. in madrid, on our first night, our friend served jamon iberico (very thin sliced cured ham). obviously this is room temperature. for the first time ever, he didn’t request for microwave (his food has to be steaming hot and drinks have to ice cold) and ate a lot (and i mean a lot!) considering this is the first time he’s seen this. My son doesn’t eat food that he’s not familiar with, more so that it’s not hot. but he did!

we had 2 full days in madrid and would leave at 12:30pm, get to the restaurant for lunch 2:30-5:30, sightseeing for another 3 hours, dinner at restaurant 8:30-11:30 and get back to our friend’s place past midnight. the temperature here was 108 deg, matt is able to sit for 3 hours of lunch without his ipad (no wifi) and still walk for sightseeing under the heat! then sit for another 3 hours at the restaurant for dinner, by 10:30, he’d be all yawning but was game enough to sit until dinner is done by 11:30. he wasn’t tired or anything, i was tired because of the extreme heat and humidity. any child that will sit down for a 3 hour lunch or dinner would be bored to tears but not matt! except for a few whinings here and there but redirectable, he was really well behaved! and ate foods that he’s never had in america!

3. the whole week this week, he started cooking camp monday and went back to school on tuesday (which was his 12th birthday as well) morning and continued cooking camp in the afternoon. his whole demeanor has been happy in general. his academic performance at home with his lovaas therapist for 2 hours at home has been well, he is much, much faster in finishing up his math and comprehension worksheets without any whinings (okay, so his sched mon-fri 9-12 school, 1-4 cooking camp, 5:30-7:30 lovaas therapy at home) considering he’s had a whole day of activities.

4. yesterday morning in bed, dad was tickling him. he normally would say no tickle, i don’t want tickle. i was surprised when i heard him say “i don’t want TO BE tickled” the grammar and sentence structure was just perfect! i had to say what? and he repeated it, exactly the same. and then he said, “i want to blanket”. i corrected him by saying i want to USE blanket. he then points to the folded blanket above my head and says again, “i want TWO blanket” meaning he wants the 2nd blanket over the blanket he already has! he said it right and mom was wrong!

5. yesterday, he finished his stewed eggplant. a first! it kinda looked yucky to me….. but he finished everything! and he went to the park with his respite aid yesterday from 11-2 in the sweltering heat of 100 degress! his aid said he enjoyed playing on the swings, slides, he has never enjoyed going to the park. all he wants to do during weekends is go to the mall or cvs or target and go to the shampoo/lotion section to smell, smell, smell.

6. today, we had lunch at my uncle’s thai bbq restaurant. so all the food is already on the big table (buffet style) and everybody has started eating. he kinda looked like he was waiting for something, and he got his plate and sat by the table where all the food was in front of him. everybody was already eating and i guess since his favorite (and the only dish he would eat there) was still missing, my uncle jimmy (his grand uncle) asked him, what are you waiting for? he actually responds by saying “garlic short ribs”, i was surprised. coz he never responds to questions asked of him other than myself, yaya, dad or his therapists/teachers.

and normally too, once the garlic short ribs is served, he will NOT, ABSOLUTELY NOT, share with anyone else. if anyone gets a piece, he will get mad and start whining. well, today, i told him to get only 2 pieces and put the dish in the middle together with the rest of the dishes. he was fine. i told everyone to get, and people were asking maybe he’ll get mad and throw a fit. i asked him gently if it’s okay for other people to get, he said yes. and it was really fine! and he also ate another new dish.

7. lastly, we went malling today with my sister, we didn’t take him to bath and body works or victoria’s secret, he asked but we didn’t. and he was totally fine….. just so you guys understand, my son has a fixation with smelling. so a trip to the mall is not complete without going to those 2 stores. he was totally okay hanging out with us while we walked around for 3 hours.

so this is it for now. i really hope to share “miraculous” improvements soon. i know i have to patient, the EmCell doctors told us to wait 2-3 months to see the full effects of the stem cells, to give them time to grow.

i hope you all can continue to pray for his miraculous progress and hopefully on my next update, i will have “remarkable improvements” to share!

as always, i have to Thank God, for this opportunity for my son. and to put my trust in God that He will heal my boy, in His time, in His way, and according to His plan! I have to be faithful – AND LEAVE THE RESULTS WITH GOD.

P.S. i just have to add this, i was tucking him in bed just now, and he asks to watch cooking.  so i turn on the tv, etc, etc.  i put the blanket over him, and we have this conversation:

him:  i want massage please

mom:  where?

him:  head please (he puts his hands on his head)

mom:  okay (i put my hands on his head)

him:  healing, go back ukraine, healing.  doctors, healing.  autism be okay.  jesus heal autism

mom:  wow matt!  yes, you will be okay

him:  go back fabio hotel (our friend’s place in madrid, fabio is the son’s name, he thought we stayed in a hotel)

this whole exchange was spontaneous, no coaching, so out of the blue. 

all i can say is praise God!  more stories to share in Jesus’ name!