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The best of luck Jon!!
I very dear friend of mine (Jon) is a victim of Parkinson's Disease. This disease causes involuntary shaking of the hands and slows down body motions. Jon has been through all the medical protocol treatment that are available in this country such as clinical trials and the like.
Six months ago while cruising the Internet, he came upon a website which told of a new experimental treatment based in Germany, utilizing the harvesting of the patients own stem cells and re injecting them so as to replace certain chemicals that will completely cure his Parkinson's.
I have oversimplified this treatment but the cruxt of it is accurate. This past Saturday night, a benefit dinner was held for him to raise the necessary funds for his plane fare and hotel stay for the ten days he'll need to be in Cologne Germany for his treatment.
We all have seen him sometimes be fairly calm and then other times shake really bad. I wish the best for him and I will pray for the man and for his complete recovery.
Does anyone know of anyone suffering from this affliction that has exhausted all accepted treatments.
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| June 22, 2009, 11:45 |
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Re: The best of luck Jon!!
Do not know of anyone personally, but have strongly admired Michael J. Fox and his foundation's work through the years of his affliction.
I think Mr. Fox currently has the brain implant, it was working pretty well for him years ago, don't know if that's still the fact now? I haven't heard if he still has it, is it still working, anyone know?
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| June 22, 2009, 11:53 |
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Mooant
41 / male
New Britain, Connecticut, US
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Re: The best of luck Jon!!
VB, could you possible find a paper or something on that treatment method and email it to me?
What you described is basically the only means to cure Parkinson's from a theoretical standpoint, but the trouble has always been in getting the stem cells. This is a big reason why everyone got mad at the ban of stem cell research that uses fetus stem cells. The secondary source of stem cells would be from the patient's own body, but the problem they had been running into is that all the stem cells in a person (after birth) are what they call Adult Stem Cells.
We all start out as one cell, the union of the sperm and egg (which we all love to practice the motions to that process  ) combine the genetic information from the mother and father to form the first cell of a totally new person. That one cell divides and divides until it forms the fetus and placenta. As these cells are dividing, they communicate to each other, sort of marking their positioning in the mass of cells. At certain stages of development, the signals trigger certain genes to activate and that cell becomes "differentiated", following the programming to become a specific type of cell. In the early stages of development, the initial differentiating just moves the stem cells from being fetus stem cells into adult stem cells. The adult stem cells are the precursors to specific types of cells. Once they have been set to a specific type of adult stem cell, they can't go back as far has been discovered. (Ok, certain types of reptiles can go back to previous levels in stem cells, which is how they have regenerative limbs, but that's not a human ability)
So Neurons come from neural stem cells (or fetus stem cells). Doing a little research while typing this out, up until recently, it was thought that there are no adult stem cells remaining after the first couple years after birth that can generate into neural cells, but they've found that there is a small supply of neural adult stem cells in two sections of the brain that can still be found in most people until the mid 20's. Other than that, you can't take other types of stem cells and convert them into neurons because we don't know the signal to send to the cell that will convert it, if one even exists.
So they've either discovered that signal, or he's going in for brain surgery. With the brain surgery route, it would be such a new type of surgery to harvest those stem cells that it is unlikely to know any long term effects of removing those stem cells prematurely. The effects could range anywhere from absolutely nothing, to early onset Alzheimer's, to brain damage. Even the surgery to harvest those specific types of stem cells would be extremely risky, as the two locations they can be found are too close to vital areas of the brain. This treatment path can be almost as bad as the disease.
Although, for someone that's tried everything and is desperate for something to work, I can see how this would look very attractive . I just wish whatever doctor he's going to has fully explained all the risks, rather than giving him false hope just to get another test subject.
Best of luck to him, I hope all goes perfectly! I may be a skeptic until I see evidence, but its people taking chances that provide the evidence.
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| June 22, 2009, 22:23 |
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funlovingpair
59 / couple
Frozen Tundra, Minnesota, US
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Re: The best of luck Jon!!
I wish him the best of luck. I have a cousin with Parkinson's Disease. He has been battling it for many a years now.
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| June 23, 2009, 00:28 |
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Mooant
41 / male
New Britain, Connecticut, US
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Re: The best of luck Jon!!
Best of Luck, Jon!!!
Thanks for the site about the treatment VB, its actually something quite different then what I had thought. Bone Marrow is a type of Adult Stem cell like I had described before, the body uses those stem cells to make blood cells and the precursors to the various cells used in our immune system.
So the center he's going to is taking some of his bone marrow, which will regrow safely so there's no lasting effects there. They'll then process the bone marrow in a way that will turn them into stem cells for neurons, although their methods are secret and my knowledge on the subject is limited (although last I heard what they're was "impossible" . After they process the stem cells, they can either inject them into the cerebral-spinal fluid through a lumbar puncture or do brain surgery and implant the stem cells directly into the target areas.
The current results show improvement in the symptoms. None of the patients are being reported as cured, but the improvements are significant enough that it could easily become a standard form of treatment soon enough and may eventually lead towards a cure. Before I get all gun-ho about the research, they've only had 11 patients with Parkinson's undergo treatment, which is far too few to make any conclusions yet, but in time the results will be revealed.
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| June 27, 2009, 00:31 |
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Re: The best of luck Jon!!
Jon will need as much as 120 days until the extent of the treatment's benefits are known.......sometime around October.
I will let everyone know how he's doing!! Keep your fingers crossed for a good prognosis!!
Another good friend of mine (Goody), is also hoping for a good outcome for someone she loves dearly too so let's all keep our fingers crossed for a good prognosis for her situation too!!!
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| June 27, 2009, 02:33 |
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User no longer registered.
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Re: The best of luck Jon!!
I'm sorry, but I could just listen to Mooant talk about anything all day long...I really could...
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| June 27, 2009, 10:45 |
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Re: The best of luck Jon!!
Mooant is one smart sob, isn't he? Very well read and expresses his points so clearly that even a moronic slug like me can grasp! 
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| June 27, 2009, 13:26 |
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Mooant
41 / male
New Britain, Connecticut, US
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Re: The best of luck Jon!!
I originally studied to be a teacher, I've always preferred to break down concepts to their core ideas and then build them up again. Unfortunately, children have gotten used to not listening anymore, its too easy to get the information off the internet and make it sound like you know what you're talking about when you don't.
While I was student teaching, my first test I gave the class was designed to test their understanding of the concepts and not just regurgitating facts. Every student failed. I quit two weeks later because none of the students changed their behavior from this life lesson. (I did grade the tests fairly, they just got all the questions wrong)
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| June 27, 2009, 16:09 |
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The best of luck Jon!!
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