March 17, 20179 yr Chunks of my brain died in the wreck and other parts of my brain were badly damaged. I was declared brain dead while in a coma and I'm missing so much of my brain that the doctor said I should be a vegetable (we didn't find out I was declared brain dead until ten years after when my doctors were looking through my records and saw it and we didn't know parts of my brain died until I finally got a new brain scan ten years after). There's currently no proven way to rebuild brain cells. So someone emailed my mother about stem cell therapy for brain injuries, but it's located in California and there has to be thousands, probably even tens of thousands, of people volunteering for the study, so I filled out the application thinking that there's no chance that I'd be selected. They emailed me and wanted to set-up an interview over the phone, but I sound like Chewbacca when I try to talk and we told them that a phone interview was pretty much impossible, so we set-up a webcam interview for 11:30 today. The study is that, if I'm selected, they're going to drill holes into my skull and insert stem cell into my brain to try and heal the damaged parts and regenerate the parts that I'm missing, so this could be life-changing. It could make me able to walk normally again and talk normally again (along with other physical problems), and could cure the problems I have in the thinking/memory/logic aspects in my brain. The only problem is that it's a controlled experiment, so they take four people in a room, drill holes in all of their skulls, but only put the stem cells into three of them, which didn't make sense to me because why would they need to observe how someone is affected by a treatment if they're not getting the treatment? Knowing my luck, I'll be the one out of the four that's not selected (if I even make it that far). Anyways, I think it was amazing that I was even selected as a possibility and, if I'm selected, I could be part of something revolutionary that changes the world! Do me a favor and say some prayers or just keep your fingers crossed for me if praying isn't your thing!
March 17, 20179 yr Prayers Bfritz. Hope you are one of the three and the results are all that you want and hope to achieve.
March 17, 20179 yr Good luck and hopefully you are one of the four that get selected. Amazing what can be done medically these days.
March 17, 20179 yr Author Wow...amazing story. Prayers sent your way. I hope you are one of the three. Prayers Bfritz. Hope you are one of the three and the results are all that you want and hope to achieve. Thank you both very much, but I just need to hope to be selected to go out there before I even worry about being one of the three! They choose a lot of people and then have a bunch of different groups of four. Great strides being made, praying for your selection and amazing results. Thank you very much. I don't even know how I'd be because this is my life.......... I haven't sat around hoping for some scientific miracle to happen that would magically restore everything back to the way it was. I love my life and I'm perfectly fine the way things are, but this could make it so my life's not a struggle, as well as make my family's lives a million times easier, and could also be something historic in the treatment of brain injuries. I could be in a group of the first set of people in history to have this done.
March 17, 20179 yr BFfitz, good luck and I will remember you in prayer. Typically during clinical studies they will monitor the Placebo Effect. This would probably explain the one in four who won't actually receive the implants.
March 17, 20179 yr Author BFfitz, good luck and I will remember you in prayer. Typically during clinical studies they will monitor the Placebo Effect. This would probably explain the one in four who won't actually receive the implants. Thank you very much for the prayers. Someone else mentioned the Placebo Effect which seems stupid to do in this instance, because, like with me, parts of my brain aren't going to magically reappear and start working again just because I think they're there.
March 18, 20179 yr Author Prayers you are healed. Thank you so much. I'm trying to keep myself in check and not get my hopes too high because I don't even know if I'll be in the study yet, and then there's always the chance that I could be 1 of the 4 that's not selected. That said, I can't even describe how unreal this would be.
March 19, 20179 yr Author Prayers for a good result from here. I appreciate it more than you know, and that's even taking into consideration that you're a Steelers fan!
March 19, 20179 yr BFritz---I am going to pray for you every day. I am writing this with tears in my eyes. I hope you get your miracle. This really hits home for me and gives me hope as I have a loved one that may benefit from this. God bless you, all the doctors and medical personnel, and a million thanks to all the researchers and scientists as well.
March 19, 20179 yr Author BFritz---I am going to pray for you every day. I am writing this with tears in my eyes. I hope you get your miracle. This really hits home for me and gives me hope as I have a loved one that may benefit from this. God bless you, all the doctors and medical personnel, and a million thanks to all the researchers and scientists as well. Thank you so much and, to your loved one, I was discussing this with someone last night, and that's that I actually might be more excited (if that's possible) for the people that could benefit from this in the future that me receiving this treatment could pave the way for. Prayers for you and your loved one and I'd GIVE ANYTHING to be the one that gives you the news that your loved one has this to look forward to!
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