UK parents abandon stem cell operation for daughter
The parents of a girl with sight problems have given up plans to take their daughter to China for stem cell therapy.
This story was on the BBC website. Apart from news on legitimate stem cell research, it seemed all news about stem cells in the last few months was about local people heading off overseas for their ‘miracle’ stem cell cure, or their attempts at least to raise the money to do so.
The parents in the BBC story also initially believed such a treatment (at a cost of ₤30,000) would work miracles for their daughter, who suffers from a congenital condition that will eventually leave her blind.
In the time it took to raise most of the money they did some research about the science related to stem cell research and came to came to the conclusion that the risks were too high for potentially no benefit.
I thought the crucial bit of the story was the following: Since making their decision, Imogen (their daughter) has made progress, she can walk a few steps unaided, and her speech is improving. “It’s unbelievable the advances she has made in the last couple of months, it’s just out of this world and the problem is if we went to China we would have thought it’s the stem cells that did that, it just happens to be that we had waited.”
Be informed
Yes I am cynical about all these stem cell cures, and who am I to dash the hopes from people. However, I am not saying that people should not spend the money on these “treatments”, though I think it would be more accurate to say experiments. But this story is a good reminder about the importance of being informed.
Making the informed decision
I have mentioned in previous posts the Australian Stem Cell Centre’s Patient Information Handbook to assist patients to critically analyse stem cell treatments before considering taking part in them. It is a crucial read for anyone considering this sort of treatment.