January 16th was the tenth anniversary of my autologous (given my own previously harvested stem cells back) transplant. (If you hit that link you'll see what is probably not the greatest picture of me.) The stem cells then rebuilt my immune system which was compromised by my prior six days of high dose chemotherapy. That was the culmination of five months of chemotherapy for my mantle cell lymphoma - seems to have worked, I'm still here...
Anyway, my friend Laurie posted a story on her facebook page where a similar protocol is showing dramatic results for people with MS (multiple sclerosis).
Here is the article, from the Telegraph (UK).
"Miraculous" results from new MS Treatment
The treatment is being carried out at Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield and Kings College Hospital, London and involves use a high dose of chemotherapy to knock out the immune system before rebuilding it with stem cells taken from the patient’s own blood.
Miss Drewry had the treatment in Sheffield. She said: “I started seeing changes within days of the stem cells being put in.
“I walked out of the hospital. I walked into my house and hugged Isla. I cried and cried. It was a bit overwhelming. It was a miracle.”
Her treatment has now been reviewed and her condition found to have been dramatically halted. She will need to be monitored for years but the hope is that her transplant will be a permanent fix.
Yes, let's hope so. Medicine and science march on!
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