Sharon Germain has plenty of experience with stem cells after being involved with two important stem cell transplants in the space of a few months.
Sharon works at the Animal General Hospital in Cranberry, Pittsburgh, with Dr. Mike Hutchinson, a world-leading expert in stem cell treatment. Sharon’s dog, Panzer, had recently received a stem cell transplant from Dr Hutchinson to treat an ACL tear in his knee. She said the treatment had exceeded her expectations and Panzer is now happily running around, enjoying himself. Sharon’s second experience with stem cells was even more personal — she also received a stem cell treatment to fix her knee!
Two years ago Sharon had a complete knee replacement on her left knee. Her right knee had begun to ache severely and she believed that a knee replacement might be required on that knee as well. After seeing the results of stem cells on her beloved dog, Sharon was encouraged to try stem cells for herself.
She became one of the first patients in the United States to receive a stem cell treatment on a knee joint. Sharon had an autologous stem cell transplant, which means the stem cells came from her own body. She had millions of stem cells injected into her knee, in the hope they would repair the damaged ligaments.
Sharon describes how painful the knee was before the procedure, saying it “Got to the point of (being) very depressing I couldn’t do what I wanted to do. I still have a house that needs to be finished. I said, ‘No, I don’t want to do it’ because I couldn’t, and that was very, very frustrating.”
The process involves removing some fat from the patient’s body via liposuction. The stem cells in the fat are then processed and transplanted close to the damaged area, in this case the knee. Stem cells can be obtained from many other sources including bone marrow, peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood.
Processing the fat is a very fast process, literally taking a couple of hours. By performing the entire procedure very quickly, there is less chance of the stem cells being contaminated.
Sharon couldn’t believe how well the procedure worked for her. She now has no pain in her knee and can walk around very easily. The stem cell treatment also healed her knee very quickly — the pain disappeared within three days. Thanks to stem cells, both Sharon and Panzer are highly mobile and enjoying daily walks to the park!
Source: Stem Cell Transplant Used To Heal Local Woman & Her Own Dog
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