Stem cell therapy got popular some years ago when an aging senator admitted that he had undergone that procedure. That senator is now 90 years old and still looking good physically except for his vision. During that time, an actress availed of stem cell therapy to fight breast cancer. Unfortunately, the actress died of cancer. An article in New York Times caught my attention. Here is the excerpt.... Jim Gass has undergone stem cell therapy at clinics in Mexico, China, and Argentina to try to recover from a stroke. But doctors found a huge mass with someone else’s cells growing aggressively in his lower spine. Tests showed that the mass was made up of abnormal, primitive cells and that it was growing very aggressively. Then came the real shocker: The cells did not come from Jim Gass. They were someone else’s cells. A doctor said that stem cell therapy is a hit or miss procedure and there is no guarantee of healing. Worse, it might have a side effect... as what happened to Jim Gass.
Stem cell therapy has it's basis in our body's bone marrow. Marrow is found throughout the body, but is concentrated in the big bones, breastbone, hipbones, etc. "Bone marrow replacement" therapy has advanced amazingly in the past decade or so. When I first read of it in Readers Digest, In was aghast! The very idea was repugnant! After that, early work was very negative. I told my wife, "NO WAY". Since then, many cancers have been cured via the technique. So, I accept now, that strides taken are positive. Frank