I did go to the launch of the Adult Stem Cells Saved My Life campaign last Saturday. Here is a local news story about the launch:

It was very well done and the testimonies were encouraging as always. The event was held in Kansas City where over 1,500 adult stem cell transplants have taken place. How nice it is to actually see positive results in human patients! Shamefully an intellectually dishonest campaign of junk science and emotional manipulation has largely dismissed or ignored the benefits of adult stem cells and lead many to believe that our greatest hope for therapies and cures lies in research that requires the creation, use and destruction of tiny human beings (despite growing evidence to the contrary).

I was going to take my own video of the testimonies while I was there, but they already have a few very nicely done little videos that tell some of the patient’s stories. They are featured on the new website StemCellResearchFacts.org:

Laura Domingues has a spinal cord injury and is now starting to walk again with the help of Adult Stem Cells taken from her own nose. She’s working with Dr. Carlos Lima from Portugual who has been studying olfactory mucosa autografts in human spinal cord injury – you can see his pilot study here. Another patient of Dr. Lima has given her testimony several times as well, which you can see here. More on ASCs and SCI: here, here, here, here and here.

Little Joseph Davis was cured of sickle cell anemia with his little brother’s umbilical cord blood stem cells. These guys were super cute on Saturday. Joe’s little brother went up to the mike and told the audience, “I gave my brother my cord blood and now we can play together!” See this story on sibling cord blood transplantation for sickle cell and the Sickle Cell Information Center’s Bone Marrow and Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplant page for more.

Amy Daniels has had a near complete recovery from Scleroderma- a disease that causes the tissue in the skin, blood vessels, and muscles to harden. More on ASCs and Scleroderma here, here, here, here, and here – for starters.

We also heard from Doug Rice who was at end-stage heart failure and was not a candidate for transplant because of his diabetes. Doug was at death’s door, and preparing for it, until he met with scientists (from Israel and Bangkok) who isolated stem cells from his blood, cultivated them and implanted them into his coronary artery. According to Doug the effects were immediate with his heart increasing to 41 percent efficiency from 11 percent before the procedure. After seeing this man’s testimony and meeting and talking with him for a few minutes I can tell you this man does not look like anyone in the advanced stages of heart failure! Watch video of Doug telling his story here: part 1 and part 2 (Windows media). And yes, there is more on ASCs and heart treatment: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here)