Cured leukemia patient could benefit twice from stem-cell therapy
Published: June 19, 2005
Andy Carpenter battled acute lymphoma leukemia since he was 3 years old.
He fought off the cancer three times in his short life, until finally, three years ago, he underwent a bone-marrow transplant at the University of Chicago Hospitals.
Today, at 12, he seems to be cancer-free, but Andy is in a unique position. Not only was he helped by stem-cell therapy once, but he could benefit from it twice.
His bone-marrow transplant came from stem cells from his sister’s umbilical cord, which his parents had saved for seven years in the hope that one day it might be used to help their son.
But the ravages of the disease remain with him in the form of nerve damage to his spine. It has left him confined to a wheelchair.
Chemotherapy treatments from his previous bouts with cancer destroyed his nerves, and he can no longer walk.
But stem-cell research could potentially again help Andy and others with spinal cord injury or disease to walk again, his mother believes.
Research has earmarked spinal- cord injuries as one of the most promising areas of stem cell, or regenerative therapy. And embryonic stem cells, researchers say, seem to hold the most promise of all.
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The Cure of Childhood Leukemia: Into the Age of MiraclesBut researchers in South Korea in November announced that they had used adult stem cells from the tissue of a woman paralyzed for 20 years after an accident, which they injected into her spine to enable her to walk again with the aid of a walker.
Does Carpenter believe stem cells saved her son’s life?
“Yes,” she said, without hesitation. “He’s basically cured. That cord blood could have been thrown in the garbage.”
Does she believe that stem-cell research, which might well involve the use of embryos, could enable her son to walk again?
“If they keep going with it, he might benefit in years to come,” she said. “His nerves might regenerate.”
Carpenter understands all too well the delicate balance between science and ethics when it comes to curing disease.
“I’m pretty much traditional,” Carpenter said. “I’m against abortion.”
But when it comes to embryonic stem-cell research, Carpenter said, “It’s a personal issue.
“I feel there’s a certain point where we’re going too far, like cloning people.”
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