My name is Kristin Smith and my 2 ½ year old son, Gabe, has myelomeningocele type spina bifida affecting the L3-L4 region of his spine. He also has a VP shunt in place. When he was 1 ½ years old we took him to China for his first stem cell treatment where he received eight (8) intravenous IV treatments with umbilical cord stem cells along with acupuncture, physical therapy, fire cupping and massage. The cost was $30,000 USD. Prior to this treatment Gabe was unable to use his legs and had low hip movement as well as low sensation and poor blood flow in his legs and feet.
In May 2012 we went to Tijuana, Mexico for his second stem cell treatment with Stem Cells Renew Institute (SCRI). We had heard many wonderful things about this group especially with regard to the rapid results that families were seeing in their spina bifida-afflicted children following treatment with SCRI
primed stem cells. At the same time we also heard many negative things about the north Baja area, as I'm sure most people from the States have, e.g., violence, kidnapping, dirty, dangerous, etc. We went despite the rumors and are so thankful that we did! To our surprise Tijuana is very clean, full of nice people and a lot of uniformed young children walking around and playing after school. We ate in a local restaurant around 8 pm and never for a second felt insecure or in any danger whatsoever. It was the opposite of what we were told by well meaning friends and other who were basically just speculated wildly. We had great food and while waiting to cross the border (back into the US) were able to buy some great souvenirs from the local people who were working hard to support their families.
As for the treatment itself, SCRI
staff picked us up at our hotel in San Diego and were simply the best hosts you could ever hope to find. Once at the clinic, our son did not cry when we handed him to the doctor because SCRI
's Dr. Abel was in the OR with him throughout the entire procedure which made him feel totally at ease. The procedure went perfectly and his legs almost immediately warmed up (better blood flow) which made both he and us so very happy.
Within the first week after Gabe's treatment we began seeing improvements. Among them:
☺He was able to consistently crawl while pulling his legs underneath himself.
☺He was able to climb up 10 stairs without help, pulling his legs up all by himself.
☺ Also, his therapist realized that he was no longer relying on his RGO to move his legs, but was using his own leg muscles to walk!
All of these gains represented firsts for Gabe, mind you.
Now it has been almost two (2) months since our treatment and he is moving his legs from the knee, and has a lot more strength. He has more sensation further down his legs and is a lot faster and more mobile. Also, he is able to move around during play in ways that he never could before.
I would be remiss if I did not point out the vast difference between Gabe's treatments in China and then Mexico (SCRI
): The Chinese stem cell & other treatments took place over many weeks, cost $30K USD, and produced some modest physical improvements. Stem Cells Renew Institut
e primed stem cell treatment took a single day, cost far less than the Chinese treatment, and produced very impressive improvements in Gabe literally coming out of the gate and continuing to this very day.
To say we are all more than delighted with SCRI
and the wonderful people who make up the SCRI family is an understatement.
JULY 21, 2012 VIDEO OF GABE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4xsGl926yo&sns=fb (28 seconds)
ADDITIONAL VIDEOS OF GABE CAN BE FOUND BY CLICKING THIS LINK: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mospina85
REGULAR UPDATES ON GABE'S PROGRESS ARE POSTED TO "GABE WILL WALK" ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/#!/GabeWillWalk?fref=ts (NOTE: You will need a Facebook account to access this community page. If you do not have a Facebook account you can easily set one up by clicking this link https://www.facebook.com/r.php?locale=en_US)
