Adult stem cells cure child of sickle cell anemia

Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow – 5/28/2009 6:20:00 AM

Research using adult stem cells has saved the life of a Texas boy suffering from sickle cell anemia.

Dallas-area residents Joe and Darlene Davis welcomed the news of a pregnancy and later the birth of their first son. Texas Alliance for Life recorded an interview with the couple.

“I was very excited to find that I had a son — but finding out that he had sickle cell anemia, as a nurse I knew there was going to be a lot of problems associated with that disease,” Joe said.

“The child can have strokes,” Darlene also noted. “It can stunt his growth and damage some organs, and the child can die at an early age — age 15 maybe or earlier.”

Stem cell therapy was the key, and when the Davises received news of a new pregnancy and the birth of another son, they were elated because stem cells from the new baby’s umbilical cord could be used to help their ailing firstborn.

“[Cells from] Isaac’s umbilical cord blood, adult stem cells, [were] going to save my son’s life, and that adult stem cell got my son cured today. He is healed,” Darlene adds. “What I’m talking about is no more sickle cell, no more running to the hospital, no more fevers, no more blood transfusion. He’s a healthy child today.”

Research shows adult stem cells are now being used to treat well over 70 diseases and medical conditions, while research using embryonic stem cells — which requires killing of a human embryo — has produced no results.