News of the stem cell bill signing was received with joy by a Lakewood woman who says the research has already improved her life. CBS force Terry Jessup goes in depth this evening with how the research in other countries is helping people in Colorado. Coloradans are hopeful for the future.
“…I see normally, and can move both legs straight out, and I can still do this (raises her hand). I couldn’t move this hand before, so, that’s remarkable.”
Jennifer Blankenship has suffered from Multiple Sclerosis since 1984, after years of no relief from pills and alternative medicines.
Blankenship: “I have done every drug on the market for MS.”
She traveled to Costa Rica to receive stem cell spinal injections.
Blankenship: “When I got back, I could move parts of my body, talk normally, I see normally, and can move both legs straight out, and I can still do this (raises her hand). I couldn’t move this hand before, so, that’s remarkable.”
And when she heard the news the President has now reversed limits on using money for embryonic stem cell research…
Blankenship: “So this will absolutely be a miracle for so many people….And it only works for a couple of years. But a couple of years for me is a lifetime.”
White: “It offers really new hope and exciting opportunities.”
Terry White is President of Bridge Health international, a local company that arranged Jennifer’s trip.
White: “We have seen patients within a short time after treatment, who had paralysis from a stroke, being able to grab something with that paralyzed hand and actually throw a ball so their dog can chase it.”
White concedes the stem cell treatments are expensive, normally running in other countries from twenty thousand up to sixty thousand dollars. Today’s Bill signing, he says, could change that, as more money becomes available for research. The question for people like Jennifer Blankenship is how soon the treatment she receives right now by the Institute for Cellular Medicine could become available her in the United States. That’s a question that’s tough to answer.
Blankenship: “It will probably be, hopefully in my lifetime.”
In Lakewood, Terry Jessup, CBS 4 News.
