CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANT
Here's a cool local story on using stem cells from umbilical cord blood to save the life of a kid with a rare genetic defect:
"Corben has a very rare genetic disease that we call Wiskott Aldrich syndrome," pediatric hematologist Dr. Carl Lenarsky said.
The deadly disease only strikes baby boys, and only affects three of every one million births.
"Most children with Wiskott Aldrich die before they're teenagers," pediatric hematologist Dr. Stanton Goldman said. Victims die from either bleeding or infection.
After the diagnosis, the Campbells prepared for the worst. "My husband thought we were going to pick out a casket," Holly Campbell said. "We were scared."
However, doctors offered some hope in the form of a cord blood transplant.
"Corben's body is fine, except for his blood cells, so what we need to do is give him a new way of forming blood cells," Lenarsky said....
For a week, Corben received chemotherapy to destroy all the bad cells in his body, which created empty space inside his bone marrow.
During chemo, Corben lost hair, and became irritable while being confined to the hospital room. But his parents and doctors felt the side effects were a small price for life.
"Stem cell transplant has a real chance of a real complete cure," Lenarsky said.
The procedure worked: "Corben developed new bone marrow and a new immune system that functions perfectly."
Umbilical cord blood stem cells may not have the full potential of embryonic stem cells, but there are plenty of diseases they can be used to fight right now.