10-22-06: China Stem Cell News Note: Steve Hills passed away recently peacefully in his sleep. We are are all very sad but are thankful to Steve as his treatment and his communication with other patients paved the way for many people to receive treatment. Our thoughts are with his family.

P A T I E N T  I N T E R V I E W  -  A L S
 

NAME:  Steve Hill 

COUNTRY:  United Kingdom

AGE:  49

DIAGNOSIS:  MND (ALS)

REASON FOR COMING FOR TREATMENT:  Weakness in his left arm, and a lot of pain in his left shoulder with intensive twitching everywhere.

TREATMENT:  Umbilical Cord Stem Cell and Nerve Growth Factor Injections with Rehabilitation Therapy

START OF TREATMENT:  Nov 18, 2005

BEFORE THE TREATMENT: Had trouble sleeping because of pain in shoulder and twitiching. Had trouble raising his left arm because of the pain. Had no use of left hand.

(Video Before 1st treatment)
 

AFTER THE TREATMENT:  No pain in shoulder. Could sleep well. Can raise left arm above head with no pain. Slight improvement in movement of left fingers. Muscle twitching stopped in throat, eye, legs, chest, and mostly in the good arm. Muscle twitching started in the affected arm.

(Click here for 1st Video after 1st treatment)
(2nd Video after 1st treatment)
(3rd Video after 1st treatment)
 

WORDS FROM PATIENT (November 22, 2005):

This is Steve and Sue in Shen Zhen, China. All is fine here. The trip out here was long and tiring. But everything that we read on the web site and that we heard has been true.

We were picked up at the airport no problem in Hong Kong with no hiccups. The hospital room is clean and tidy with its own ensuite. The communications were a problem at first but have now been sorted. Settled in the first week okay. Started with many health checks within a day of getting here. A lot more checks than you get in the UK. I have found I have a growth on my kidney, herniated discs, an enlarged heart and very high blood pressure. But the blood pressure seems to have gone down after the stem cell injection for the first time in years.

My main symptom of MND (ALS) is weakness in my left arm, and a lot of pain in my left shoulder with intensive twitching everywhere. After the first injection, my twitching has eased and the pain in my shoulder is gone. This is important to me because it is the first time I have slept well in seven months. I can now turn over in bed without any pain. The nurses are fine. The food is mixed but good. The first stem cell injection was painful because of my bad back but after they did an MRI, they decided to give them in an IV which is not painful at all.

I have already received treatment for my back via acupuncture and massage and it has relieved a lot of tension.  

The second injection completely gotten rid of the twitching in my neck which is great because it was annoying when I was eating. There were a lot of little improvements and as long as they stay for awhile I am happy.

Dr. Hu and his team looking after us are doing a good job and I realize that I am on a trial and it is new but with this disease you need to try anything you can. Their approach is not to just give a series of injections and leave it be, they are trying to figure but the best way to treat me. They are more like doctors trying to do what they can to treat my disease rather than just getting me hear, doing a standard treatment and letting me go.

They have done lots of tests like an EMG, breathe tests and checked my heart so they can log the changes.

I paid the basic hospital fees because I was one of the first three patients. Because I have had good results, their next ten ALS patients will pay 6,000 pounds and after that they will charge the same price as Dr. Huang and others. The flight for myself and my sister cost 1,000 pounds with insurance. I plan to be he here one month but in reality if you only wanted to stay two weeks, you could still get the recommended four injections.

Probably by the end, I will have had six to eight to try and make my changes stay me with me longer. I plan to come back in six months and do it again so I can stay at this level until there is a real cure.

I found the web site by searching for stem cells on the web. They have treated many Chinese patients and Dr. Hu assures me the results are good. However, they tell me that the improvements can only last for a three to nine months except in rare cases. That is why I will come back. The communication with this group has been easy as they are westerners and when they do any of the treatments, tests, etc. there is always someone there who speaks fluent English to help the communication.

I would not advise any one to come over if they are not very strong. I recommend anyone coming get a multi-visa so you can go into Hong Kong if you want.

The visa takes a week and you just go to the Chinese embassy.

My feeling is that people need to come out and try these things otherwise there will not be any progress. Some people may get better results than me. Some people may get worse results than me but they are helping to make progress for others and what’s the alternative?

January 18, 2006

More or less in the same condition as when I left the hospital which is good news. I saw my neurologist and after some muscle tests, he told me I am the same as I was in August which is also good news since I was in better shape at that time than when I got to Shen Zhen for the treatment. My friends have noticed that something is better with my shoulder. It does not just hang there anymore. I had a test for lyme's disease and it turned out negative.

Surface EMG #1 - Before Treatment 

Surface EMG #2 - Before Treatment

Surface EMG #3 - Before Treatment

Surface EMG #1 - After Treatment

Surface EMG #2 - After Treatment