By P.J. Malone

When modified adult stem cells were injected into the brains of people disabled by a stroke, substantial recovery was demonstrated long after the stroke had occurred, according to Stanford Medicine News Center.

 In their article, “Stem cells shown safe, beneficial for chronic stroke patients,” they discuss the findings of a small clinical trial led by Stanford University School of Medicine investigators.

 Investigators found that not only did it prove safe, but also effective in restoring motor function for patients who had suffered their first and only stroke between six months and three years before receiving the adult stem cells injections.

 One trial participant explained that her right arm wasn’t working at all and felt almost dead and that her right leg didn’t work that well. She apparently walked with a noticeable limp and used a wheelchair a lot.

 The article stated, “Not anymore though. ‘After my surgery, they woke up,’ she said of her limbs.”

 The trial discovered that there were no side effects attributable to the stem cells themselves, and no life-threatening adverse effects linked to the procedure used to administer them, as noted by a paper detailing the trial’s results.

 Gary Steinberg, a medical doctor and professor and chair of neurosurgery with 15 years’ worth of experience in work with stem cell therapies for neurological indications, was quoted as saying, “’It [the clinical trial] was designed primarily to test the procedure’s safety.

“’But patients improved by several standard measures, and their improvement was not only statistically significant, but clinically meaningful. Their ability to move around has recovered visibly. That’s unprecedented. At six months out from a stroke, you don’t expect to see any further recovery.’”

 The article further quotes Steinberg who asserts: “’This wasn’t just, ‘They couldn’t move their thumb, and now the can.’ Patients who were in wheelchairs are walking now,” said Steinberg, who is the Bernard and Ronni Lacroute-William Randolph Hearst Professor in Neurosurgery and Neurosciences.

 “’We know these cells don’t survive for more than a month or so in the brain,’ he added. ‘Yet we see that patients’ recovery is sustained for greater than one year and, in some cases now, more than two years.’”

 One of the things the researchers seem excited about is that this discovery could revolutionize the concept of what happens after a stroke and traumatic brain injury. The prevalent thought is that once the brain is injured it doesn’t recover. Steinberg expressed, as the article shows, “’We thought those brain circuits were dead. And we’ve learned that they’re not.’”

 What wonderful ‘potential’ implications for Bahamians! That is, if we can rectify the situation and get the once planned stem cell facility to be built in The Bahamas.

 The Bahamas is said to have a very high incidence of strokes. If this type of research continues to show promising results, Bahamians could stand to benefit from any stem cell research and discoveries made at its own facilities in the Bahamas.

 We have the power to act and make this a reality. Let’s do it for the sake of Bahamian fathers, Bahamian mothers, Bahamian sisters, Bahamian brothers, and most especially for Bahamian sons and daughters suffering from illnesses now and in years to come who may benefit from the existence and research of a stem cell facility in the Bahamas.

 Call up you member of parliament now and tell him or her you want them to do all in their power to push for the continuation of the plans for a stem cell facility to be built in The Bahamas.