I was watching this great new show called The Doctors yesterday when I heard a heartwarming story about a 2-year-old boy named Dallas who was diagnosed at birth with cerebral palsy. He couldnt speak, walk, crawl, wave or even smile.Luckily, his parents had banked Dallas umbilical cord blood at birth. Eighteen months later, the cells from his umbilical cord were injected intravenously into his arm in the hopes that they would repair the damage in his brain.
Amazingly, Dallas is now walking, running and throwing balls. The fog over him just lifted and he became like a little boy, his father Derek remembers.
Pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. James Baumgartner, a leading expert in non-embryonic stem cell research, explained that there are two theories for how stem cell infusions promote healing. One is that the stem cells are able to find the area of injury and replace missing or damaged cells, and the other is that the stem cells find the general area of affliction and induce healing.
Dr. Lisa Masterson, one of the doctors on the show's panel, is a strong proponent of cord blood banking. On yesterday's episode she pointed out that over 95 percent of cord blood is just wasted," and went on to explain that cord blood is placental blood cells, which are immature cells that can turn into any other cells in the body, such as organs and tissues, and can heal them.
Episodes of The Doctors cover everything from cervical cancer and chiropractors to seizures and snoring. If you haven't had the pleasure of watching (and learning from) it already, check your local listings for show times in your area.
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[Source: Pregnancy Blog - For All Your Pregnancy Things by PregnancyWeekly]
