Stem Cell Therapy

Image via WikipediaI heard this programme on the radio this evening and radio has lost none of its power. I remember growing up thinking radio was just so boring and that it rattled on and on. Then I just listened to it for music. Now I have it tuned to news and talk back when I am in the car or home alone. Radio is actually really good to listen to and this small feature did a power of good. In a short space of time it highlighted how complex and far reaching stem cell research is and will be and how the stem cell tourism industry debate is fraught with tough decisions. We have to get the whole lot out of the cupboard and into the daylight so we can start talking about it and finding sound solutions. No one was going to argue with Perry Cross who is a quadriplegic who has had stem cell therapy overseas. Conventional medicine has not had an optimistic approach with him so he has understandably become very cynical. Originally he wasn’t supposed to live the night and then he was given 10 years and 14 years later he is still with us and talking to us on radio helping us to change the world. He has been helped by stem cell therapy but the cost is exorbitant. One researcher was saying there’s a possibility of a placebo effect whereby the patient believes so strongly something will work, so they change biologically. Faith healing I guess. Well, isn’t that one thing doctors could do? Make their patients feel so positive they increase their chances of improving their wellbeing? Surely it is valid to endorse positive deviation as part of your routine treatment? The whole stem cell therapy debate is complex, but Perry Cross brings it back to basics. For him it means so much and has changed his life. He literally can breathe for himself now. I think Christopher Reeves fought a greatly inspiring battle and showed us how nothing need be an impediment to living and that doctors need to help bolster our courage as well as provide us with treatments. Writing us off is not what we want. Oh yes, the other part of the argument is there will be people out there ready to take advantage and we should be cautious. It doesn’t devalue Perry Cross’ point. If it is working, it is working. If you criticise it, then you need to have something to put in its place. You were not living as a quadriplegic on a ventilator. Talking from the position of complete health is probably not the optimum way to look at it .