Adult Stem Cells Saved My Life campaign set to launch

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KANSAS CITY, KAN., November 12 (CNA) - The Family Research Council, (FRC) has announced the beginning of its campaign to spread awareness about how successful adult stem cells are in treating a variety of diseases. The most recent count places the number of conditions successfully treated at close to 80.

On Saturday, November 14, 2009, the FRC will kick off the “Adult Stem Cells Saved My Life Education & Awareness Campaign” at the Town Hall in Shawnee, Kansas. At the premier, they will publicly launch www.stemcellresearchfacts.com and present the stories of people who have been successfully treated with adult stem cells via short videos.

Laura Dominguez knows firsthand about the impact a stem cell treatment can make.

In the summer of 2001, when Dominguez was just 16 years-old, she was involved in a car accident that broke her neck, paralyzing her from the neck down.

After a Portuguese surgeon took stem cells from her nose, cultured them, and used them to replace the scar tissue in her neck, she is now able to feel her body below her chest. She can grasp and move the mouse of a computer and is able to walk with leg braces. Though her range of motion is limited compared to her abilities before the accident, due to the treatment which used her own stem cells, she is no longer a paraplegic.

David Prentice, Ph.D., formerly a professor at Indiana State University who now works full time with FRC, told CNA that this campaign is about awareness. “This (adult stem cell research) is out there. There’s more coming.” Prentice noted that the majority of people don’t even know about adult stem cell treatments and how effective they are.

According to Prentice, the exact number of conditions that can be successfully treated by adult stem cells “is growing weekly. It’s over 70, and soon it will be 80.”

Currently the most common and effective treatments using stem cells are various forms of cancers and anemias, he said, though adult stem cells have also repaired heart attack damage, treated leukemias, lymphomas, spinal cord injuries and helped patients with multiple sclerosis and juvenile diabetes.

When asked about the embryonic stem cell research debate, Prentice noted, “No human beings have even been injected yet” in embryonic stem cell research. Published science, however, has verified the successful treatments of thousands of patients using adult stem cells.

“Lets focus on helping the patients, and helping them now,” Prentice said. “We’re not even talking about embryonic stem cell research. It’s not helping anybody. It’s not even helping the lab rats.”