DW - This is unedited and published just as received. The task of educating people is huge but it has to be done. I have no wish to be like Sisyphus but I have no choice but to keep rolling the stone!
Douglas T. Rice
Adult Stem Cell Recipient
My name is Doug Rice, I am 61 years old and have Congestive Heart Disease and am Diabetic. I could be one of over 500,000 people that die in the United States yearly, BUT I am not dead. Not because I shouldn’t be, but because there is a resolve to this problem. I am not a miracle, a phenomenon, but a living person that by the Grace of God was saved from a disease that kills daily about 1,400 people. However, I had to travel to Bangkok, Thailand and go in debt to do something that should be readily available in the United States. I used my own Stem Cells, and a simple Angio Plas procedure to have my live be given back to me. Your own stem cells have so much more to give than we give them credit for; a lot of other diseases are being treated successfully by just using the Adult Stem cell.
These 500,000 Heart patients don’t make the mainstream press, no newspaper articles of any significance and certainly most politicians in Washington D.C. don’t even like to discuss it. Sadly, it is a fact, if a family dies in a car wreck, children are gunned down in a school, a disgruntled person shoots or maims his or her coworkers, and it is BIG NEWS.
BUT, 500,000 people die at a rate of 1400 a day and no one takes the time of day to pray for them. Not all are old, some very young and with families and friends to care about, most people just don’t realize that they die although almost everyone knows someone that will die from this disease.
Did you know that over $613,000,000 has been spent researching the Embryonic Stem Cell as the miracle drug it is not? Did you know that to my knowledge not one person has been treated and the rats they treated ended up with tumors?
Did you know that over 400,000 people with various cancers have been successfully treated and most are alive to talk about the Adult Stem Cell treatment using their own stem cells or ones from the cord, not one by Embryonic stem cells.
To be honest, discussing Embryonic Stem Cells is like kicking a dead horse, “ They Don’t Work Now, They May Never Work “, maybe in ten or 20 years, but not now and there is something that works “NOW” the Adult Stem Cell!! What does it take to make people realize that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?
I bet if you ask someone what stem cells are, they will say Embryonic, not because they know, but because that is all they hear about. Education, Education, Education and the facts is the only way to get the job of moving the adult stem cell to the forefront is education, funding and actual treatment “NOW”.
I get many calls on a daily basis because I have been treated with my Adult Stem Cells, and the most frequent question is “Why did you have to go to Thailand”? Answer: “Because the Embryonic forum controls the press, the money and the education process as well as the medical industry, and you can’t get it done in the United States! Kid yourself not, there is a lot of money involved, and do you think if the Adult Stem Cell had the financial reward potential that the Embryonic Cell research has that we would even be having this discussion? There would be money coming out of the wood work, every medical enterprise would be all over it. However, your own Stem Cells are not for sale, they are free, no one can patent them and make Billions off of them, and does that tell you why the funding and education on the Adult Stem Cells is so far behind??
Listen, I am but one man, a very lucky man to have had my ex-wife Sheba Rice find the solution on the internet while looking for new technology for heart disease, without her efforts, I would be in a urn on the fireplace. But, she gave a damn and wanted me alive for whatever reasons, we all need to do the same for someone we know or people that need the help. We that care, need to educate everyone you meet, if not because I say it, because of the 500,000 people that will die this year!
I would get down on my knees and beg if I thought that I alone could do it, I can’t, I doubt if I make a difference, but you can, your Senators, Congressmen, Doctors and news media friends can make a difference. I will do what ever I can do to move this forward, but boy do I need your help! Ask me for anything that will help and I will do my best, I am asking everyone that reads this to do their best, one day you may be where I have been, or your mother, father, brother and sisters as well as relatives and friends. This is so serious I can’t imagine everyone not getting involved; by the way, I will admit I am a dreamer.
Feel free to contact me if I can be of help. http://www.info@douglastrice.org/ shortly I will have it full of helpful information.
Thanks for reading this and I know you will help!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Scientists throw another lifeline to heart failure patients
The momentum is speeding up. Researchers trying to help heart failure, cardiomyopathy and ischemic heart disease patients have discovered that adult stem cells within the heart perhaps can be hormonally stimulated to create new tissue.
The Victor Chang Cardiac Institute is researching stimulating adult stem cells to move from the bone marrow into the bloodstream where they can be painlessly obtained and harvested or just stimulating them to come into the circulation where they will find their own way to the heart and start the repair.
This research from Down Under is yet another example of how far and fast adult stem cells are becoming the preferred treatment option for patients formerly condemned to a resricted life on a treadmill of drugs, surgery, stents etc etc. The day is coming in many countries when with diet, exercise and adult stem cells poeple will be able to enjoy a longer and more active life. At present help is available now, but you have to travel for it - however, it is still considerably cheaper than a few days in a US hospital.
The Victor Chang Cardiac Institute is researching stimulating adult stem cells to move from the bone marrow into the bloodstream where they can be painlessly obtained and harvested or just stimulating them to come into the circulation where they will find their own way to the heart and start the repair.
This research from Down Under is yet another example of how far and fast adult stem cells are becoming the preferred treatment option for patients formerly condemned to a resricted life on a treadmill of drugs, surgery, stents etc etc. The day is coming in many countries when with diet, exercise and adult stem cells poeple will be able to enjoy a longer and more active life. At present help is available now, but you have to travel for it - however, it is still considerably cheaper than a few days in a US hospital.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Ten years of embryonic stem cell research and nothing to show for it!
The politics of embryonic stem cell research are all about vested interest i.e. money. Many research institutes have had their noses in the public trough for some ten years now. What have they produced? Tumors in rats - not ONE treatment or cure for diseases in humans has been developed.
Now researchers from the California Institute of RegenerativeMedicine have warned that the press and public have exaggerated the nearness of successful embryonic stem cell research! So we have to wait years and years for any advances to be made.
I suggest we leave the embryonic stem cell researchers to their labs and their lifestyle dependent upon taxpayer dollars. Regenerative medicine is being driven by superior adult stem cells which RIGHT NOW are actually being used to develop cures and treatments. Adult stem cells are highly versatile and do not require the destruction of human life.Ask the hundreds of patients dying from congestive heart failure, ischemic heart disease or cardiomyopathy how improved they were after adult stem cell treatment and they will tell you that adult stem cell treatment was safe, minimally invasive and gave them back an active and more energetic life. These patients chose not to retire to a hospice to await the inevitable; they took charge of their own heath, often in the face of skepticism from medical specialists, friends and family. Their stories are inspiring and they are at the vangaurd of a revolution.
I hope this revolution is a noisy one as the good news should be trumpeted loudly. YOU DO NOT NEED TO DIE, HELP IS AVAILBLE NOW FOR END-STAGE HEART FAILURE.
Now researchers from the California Institute of RegenerativeMedicine have warned that the press and public have exaggerated the nearness of successful embryonic stem cell research! So we have to wait years and years for any advances to be made.
I suggest we leave the embryonic stem cell researchers to their labs and their lifestyle dependent upon taxpayer dollars. Regenerative medicine is being driven by superior adult stem cells which RIGHT NOW are actually being used to develop cures and treatments. Adult stem cells are highly versatile and do not require the destruction of human life.Ask the hundreds of patients dying from congestive heart failure, ischemic heart disease or cardiomyopathy how improved they were after adult stem cell treatment and they will tell you that adult stem cell treatment was safe, minimally invasive and gave them back an active and more energetic life. These patients chose not to retire to a hospice to await the inevitable; they took charge of their own heath, often in the face of skepticism from medical specialists, friends and family. Their stories are inspiring and they are at the vangaurd of a revolution.
I hope this revolution is a noisy one as the good news should be trumpeted loudly. YOU DO NOT NEED TO DIE, HELP IS AVAILBLE NOW FOR END-STAGE HEART FAILURE.
How much can we trust the FDA?
This week has seen the debacle over GlaxoSmithKline's diabetic drug Avandia. This FDA approved drug has been linked to "severe adverse effects" i.e. linked to increased risk of heart attack.
Many of us think that FDA approval automatically confers safety. Not so - just remember the horror outcomes of Thalidomide.
What has all this got to do with adult stem cells? Many say that adult stem cell therapy is experiemental - unproven, without sufficient clinical trails approved by the FDA etc etc. At this moment there are hundreds of trials in progress around the world but it will be quite some time before adult stem cells gain FDA approval. And when they do does that really mean they are efficacious and safe? I hope so, BUT we know right now that safety is the least concern over the use of adult stem cells - after all they come from the patient's own body so when re-introduced into the body there are absolutely no rejection problems.
The hundreds of patients treated to date with adult stem cells for heart failure, Cardiomyopathy, Ischemic Heart Disease and Periperal artery disease would have missed out on the opportunity to enjoy a more active and longer life if they had waited for FDA approval. These people have chosen to get help for their failing heart right now - safely and knowing that patient outcomes are leading the revolution in modern medicine.
Many of us think that FDA approval automatically confers safety. Not so - just remember the horror outcomes of Thalidomide.
What has all this got to do with adult stem cells? Many say that adult stem cell therapy is experiemental - unproven, without sufficient clinical trails approved by the FDA etc etc. At this moment there are hundreds of trials in progress around the world but it will be quite some time before adult stem cells gain FDA approval. And when they do does that really mean they are efficacious and safe? I hope so, BUT we know right now that safety is the least concern over the use of adult stem cells - after all they come from the patient's own body so when re-introduced into the body there are absolutely no rejection problems.
The hundreds of patients treated to date with adult stem cells for heart failure, Cardiomyopathy, Ischemic Heart Disease and Periperal artery disease would have missed out on the opportunity to enjoy a more active and longer life if they had waited for FDA approval. These people have chosen to get help for their failing heart right now - safely and knowing that patient outcomes are leading the revolution in modern medicine.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Brothers ride adult stem cell express from heart failure to health
SUMMARY: Two brothers from Illinois who were running out of time and were beyond conventional medical help in the U.S. have had their heart failure treated successfully in Bangkok, Thailand.
BANGKOK, Thailand - Faced with massive heart problems beyond conventional help American brothers John and Walter Homeier traveled to Bangkok to receive the very latest in adult stem cell therapy for the failing heart. Fourteen months later the older brother, John, is back doing what he used to do before his illness – playing golf, walking as far as he likes and working every day. Younger brother, Walter, just one month after his treatment is already doing well, reporting that his energy is improving day by day.
Theravitae, the Israeli-Thai biotechnology company that has researched and developed its patented adult stem cell therapy, VesCell, has treated some 200 no-option heart failure patients to date. The results for around 75 percent of patients both by self-report and by clinical evaluation are dramatic. Patients have more energy and are able to resume activities they thought they had lost forever. They feel less tired and experience far fewer symptoms such as angina. Their heart is able to pump more efficiently than before treatment. For John this has meant, “I can do anything I want to do. Theravitae saved my life”.
Since adult stem cell therapies are not yet approved in the U.S. the brothers had to gain acceptance by an accredited hospital that performs the operation, in their cases Bangkok Heart Hospital. Here top cardiologists assess the patient and then withdraw a small amount of blood from the arm which is immediately flown to the laboratory in Israel. In the laboratory the stem cells that can help the heart muscle and increase blood flow to the affected areas are isolated and multiplied by many millions. This harvested concentrate of stem cells is then flown back to the hospital where the stem cells are either injected directly into the heart muscle or introduced by catheter into the blocked area. These stem cells have demonstrated the ability to do what they are ‘trained’ to do, namely repair, strengthen and revascularize. Within a few months (often sooner) the vast majority of patients notice the benefits
Both brothers were aware before receiving treatment that because the blood that is used is their own there is absolutely no possibility of the body rejecting the implantation of stem cells. They were also encouraged by reading about and speaking with patients who had already benefited from VesCell’s adult stem cell therapy. Like many other seriously ill heart failure patients there comes a point when they are told that apart from a heart transplant there is nothing more that can be done for them. Rather than choose a hospice or a rocking chair while they await their inevitable fate an increasing number are choosing to undergo what is rapidly becoming established as a safe, helpful and minimally invasive procedure in world class hospitals in Thailand.
Medical tourism is a huge and rapidly growing industry in Thailand. The reasons for this growth and world-wide acceptance by patients seeking treatment in the kingdom lie in the facts that the hospital facilities and equipment are truly first class and the care and support of medical and nursing staff is second to none. Many of the specialists involved in the treatment of foreign patients have been trained or had extensive post-graduate experience in western countries. The Homeiers experienced exceptional care from the company and the hospital staff. They found their hotel accommodation surpassed their expectations. Furthermore, Thailand has long been recognized as a safe, beautiful, welcoming and enjoyable place for tourists generally, let alone those needing some rest and relaxation after hospital treatment. The brothers were able to take advantage of all that the kingdom offers.
John has already seen his Ejection Fraction (the measure of the heart’s efficiency in pumping blood) rise from a mere 15 to 40. Small wonder that he feels so much better and is able to resume all the activities formerly denied him. The skeptics can say what they like but patient outcomes like those of the Homeiers are driving more and more end-stage heart patients to seek help. As more and more clinical trial results are published cardiologists will be suggesting to greater numbers of patients that adult stem cell therapy using their own blood is the preferred treatment option that can help them right now regain a quality of life they thought they had lost.
BANGKOK, Thailand - Faced with massive heart problems beyond conventional help American brothers John and Walter Homeier traveled to Bangkok to receive the very latest in adult stem cell therapy for the failing heart. Fourteen months later the older brother, John, is back doing what he used to do before his illness – playing golf, walking as far as he likes and working every day. Younger brother, Walter, just one month after his treatment is already doing well, reporting that his energy is improving day by day.
Theravitae, the Israeli-Thai biotechnology company that has researched and developed its patented adult stem cell therapy, VesCell, has treated some 200 no-option heart failure patients to date. The results for around 75 percent of patients both by self-report and by clinical evaluation are dramatic. Patients have more energy and are able to resume activities they thought they had lost forever. They feel less tired and experience far fewer symptoms such as angina. Their heart is able to pump more efficiently than before treatment. For John this has meant, “I can do anything I want to do. Theravitae saved my life”.
Since adult stem cell therapies are not yet approved in the U.S. the brothers had to gain acceptance by an accredited hospital that performs the operation, in their cases Bangkok Heart Hospital. Here top cardiologists assess the patient and then withdraw a small amount of blood from the arm which is immediately flown to the laboratory in Israel. In the laboratory the stem cells that can help the heart muscle and increase blood flow to the affected areas are isolated and multiplied by many millions. This harvested concentrate of stem cells is then flown back to the hospital where the stem cells are either injected directly into the heart muscle or introduced by catheter into the blocked area. These stem cells have demonstrated the ability to do what they are ‘trained’ to do, namely repair, strengthen and revascularize. Within a few months (often sooner) the vast majority of patients notice the benefits
Both brothers were aware before receiving treatment that because the blood that is used is their own there is absolutely no possibility of the body rejecting the implantation of stem cells. They were also encouraged by reading about and speaking with patients who had already benefited from VesCell’s adult stem cell therapy. Like many other seriously ill heart failure patients there comes a point when they are told that apart from a heart transplant there is nothing more that can be done for them. Rather than choose a hospice or a rocking chair while they await their inevitable fate an increasing number are choosing to undergo what is rapidly becoming established as a safe, helpful and minimally invasive procedure in world class hospitals in Thailand.
Medical tourism is a huge and rapidly growing industry in Thailand. The reasons for this growth and world-wide acceptance by patients seeking treatment in the kingdom lie in the facts that the hospital facilities and equipment are truly first class and the care and support of medical and nursing staff is second to none. Many of the specialists involved in the treatment of foreign patients have been trained or had extensive post-graduate experience in western countries. The Homeiers experienced exceptional care from the company and the hospital staff. They found their hotel accommodation surpassed their expectations. Furthermore, Thailand has long been recognized as a safe, beautiful, welcoming and enjoyable place for tourists generally, let alone those needing some rest and relaxation after hospital treatment. The brothers were able to take advantage of all that the kingdom offers.
John has already seen his Ejection Fraction (the measure of the heart’s efficiency in pumping blood) rise from a mere 15 to 40. Small wonder that he feels so much better and is able to resume all the activities formerly denied him. The skeptics can say what they like but patient outcomes like those of the Homeiers are driving more and more end-stage heart patients to seek help. As more and more clinical trial results are published cardiologists will be suggesting to greater numbers of patients that adult stem cell therapy using their own blood is the preferred treatment option that can help them right now regain a quality of life they thought they had lost.
Adult stem cells from the horse's mouth
Sometimes we cannot rely on the body's ability to repair itself naturally. Take tendons for example. After trauma the body's own repair system results in a tendon that is not as functional as the original. But what if tendon repair could be enhanced by adult stem cells?
This is where horse racing provides us with valuable insights. A horse with a less than perfect tendon repair is not likely to be a race winner.
Human trials will follow after the success of UK vets in treating race horses with damaged tendons with adult stem cells. The best horses may well help the best athletes - let alone all those with impaired function after injury - loss of work, pain, loss of mobility etc etc.
Exciting stuff that joins the ever-growing body of anecdotal and research based outcomes of the role that adult stem cells can play in helping people suffering from cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, ischemic heart disease, peripheral artery disease - and now tendon trauma.The list grows almost daily.
This is where horse racing provides us with valuable insights. A horse with a less than perfect tendon repair is not likely to be a race winner.
Human trials will follow after the success of UK vets in treating race horses with damaged tendons with adult stem cells. The best horses may well help the best athletes - let alone all those with impaired function after injury - loss of work, pain, loss of mobility etc etc.
Exciting stuff that joins the ever-growing body of anecdotal and research based outcomes of the role that adult stem cells can play in helping people suffering from cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, ischemic heart disease, peripheral artery disease - and now tendon trauma.The list grows almost daily.
Fat-derived stem cells helping urological conditions
Human fatty tissue has been shown to be a viable, pluripotent source for stem cells that can be differentiated into bone, muscle and neural cell types. San Francisco researchers studied whether fat stem cells taken from rats could differentiate into urologic tissues that could be used for reconstructive purposes.
Patients with urological conditions may take heart at this study with a control group of 16 rats, beacuse after injections of their stem cells into the bladder and urethra the cells differentiated into smooth and striated muscle, vascular and adipose tissues.
Fatty tissue may be an easily accessible cource of stem cells that can become urothelium, smooth muscle and other support tissue.
This study is another example of the ever-widening range of conditions where the application of adult stem cells is being shown to produce therapeutic results. The lieterature has been dominated by heart failure research and peripheral artery disease to date but new studies are throwing exciting progress in such diseases as diabetes, CVA (stroke), Parkinson's Disease and auto-immune diseases.
Patients with urological conditions may take heart at this study with a control group of 16 rats, beacuse after injections of their stem cells into the bladder and urethra the cells differentiated into smooth and striated muscle, vascular and adipose tissues.
Fatty tissue may be an easily accessible cource of stem cells that can become urothelium, smooth muscle and other support tissue.
This study is another example of the ever-widening range of conditions where the application of adult stem cells is being shown to produce therapeutic results. The lieterature has been dominated by heart failure research and peripheral artery disease to date but new studies are throwing exciting progress in such diseases as diabetes, CVA (stroke), Parkinson's Disease and auto-immune diseases.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Adult stem cell success in Parkinson's Disease
Three stem cell infusions via local anaesthesia have been used to treat a US national suffering from Parkinson's Disease.
The man had spent a fortune on drugs, surgery and micr-electrode treatments - this procedure cost him a tiny fraction of earlier treatment.
His treatment in India involved his own bone marrow cells being harvested after the mesenchymal cells had been isolated. The dopamine producing part of his brain (Substantia Nigra) received the harvested cells and his symptoms of severe tremors, rigidity, freezing and slurring of speech were greatly reduced.
Hope or hype? It is early days yet and there is no telling whether there would be a degeneration of the infused cells in the future. The science is so new and much further research is needed - all of which takes time. This man took the risk. Who wouldn't?
The man had spent a fortune on drugs, surgery and micr-electrode treatments - this procedure cost him a tiny fraction of earlier treatment.
His treatment in India involved his own bone marrow cells being harvested after the mesenchymal cells had been isolated. The dopamine producing part of his brain (Substantia Nigra) received the harvested cells and his symptoms of severe tremors, rigidity, freezing and slurring of speech were greatly reduced.
Hope or hype? It is early days yet and there is no telling whether there would be a degeneration of the infused cells in the future. The science is so new and much further research is needed - all of which takes time. This man took the risk. Who wouldn't?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
More good news for heart failure patients
Way down there in Australia scientists are saying stem cells from a patient's own tissue could be used to make heart muscle. By stimulating them coming into the circulation they could be harvested, collected and administered to patients where they will go to work producing new heart tissue.
For patients with tissue damage post myocardial infarction and for those with end-stage heart failure this is exciting news indeed.
Luckily patients can receive this therapy right now - safely and without any rejection problems. Imagine returning to an active life, able to do what you want rather than merely existing as a cardiac cripple.
For patients with tissue damage post myocardial infarction and for those with end-stage heart failure this is exciting news indeed.
Luckily patients can receive this therapy right now - safely and without any rejection problems. Imagine returning to an active life, able to do what you want rather than merely existing as a cardiac cripple.
Scientist urges caution about signing up for adult stem cells
A scientist who works in research and development in the stem cell industry recently advised caution before signing up for any stem cell therapy. She advised that people should find out if the therapy was approved by regulators after experts reviewed its clinical data. She went on to question claims that adult stem cells could help many of the conditions that they are currently being used on in various parts of the world.
Okay - it is true that people wish for much more from stem cells than researchers are able to deliver at present, but what excuse does she have for her ignorance of the trials published thus far? Hundreds have been successfully treated and had their lives prolonged by adult stem cell therapy which has been proven safe and avoids any rejection problems. Ethically how do you do a double-blind study on patients with only months to live?
Oh, I see.Buried in the article was the fact that she is a researcher in embryonic stem cells. Her scattergun approach therefore lacks any validity. Of course there is a long way to go for embryonic stem cells. So far they have only produced cancers in rats and mice.
I wish people would learn that there is a world of difference between adult and embryonic stem cells.
Okay - it is true that people wish for much more from stem cells than researchers are able to deliver at present, but what excuse does she have for her ignorance of the trials published thus far? Hundreds have been successfully treated and had their lives prolonged by adult stem cell therapy which has been proven safe and avoids any rejection problems. Ethically how do you do a double-blind study on patients with only months to live?
Oh, I see.Buried in the article was the fact that she is a researcher in embryonic stem cells. Her scattergun approach therefore lacks any validity. Of course there is a long way to go for embryonic stem cells. So far they have only produced cancers in rats and mice.
I wish people would learn that there is a world of difference between adult and embryonic stem cells.
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