Adult stem cells have restored feeling in the bodies of people paralyzed with spinal cord injury—indeed, even permitting some to walk with assistance. From the story :
The injuries in the study patients were 18 months to 15 years old. The patients, ages 19 to 37, had no use of their legs before the treatment. One paraplegic treated almost three years after the injury now ambulates with two crutches and knee braces. Ten other patients ambulate with physical assistance and walkers (with and without braces). One 31-year-old male tetriplegic patient uses a walker without the help of knee braces or physical assistance. When the stem cell transplant and scar removal process was combined with an advanced form of rehabilitative training that employs brain-initiated weight-bearing movement, 13 patients improved in the standard measures used to assess functional independence and walking capabilities.
Remember, these are still early studies and much terrain needs to be covered. But can you imagine the headlines if this were an ESCR study? Alas: Just as Dr. Carlos Lima’s earlier similar success was utterly ignored by the media, this advance appears to be another case of “not the right kind of stem cell success to make news.” Indeed, paralyzed rat ESCR experiments get more press than these amazing human advances. ( See my, “The Great Stem Cell Coverup,” from the Weekly Standard .)
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