Kris Boesen thought his life was over when he was involved in a serious car crash at just 21 years-of-age.  His vehicle fishtailed on a wet road before slamming into a telephone pole.  He was left with significant spinal injuries and was unable to move anything below his neck.  Kris also had no feeling below his neck and was told by doctors that he would never walk again.

Kris was fortunate enough to gain a place in a new research project testing a stem cell therapy for paralysis.  The trial is being run by researchers at the Keck Medical Center of the University of Southern California (USC).  Researchers believed that stem cell therapy could be used to restore some feeling and movement in people with paralysis.

In early April of 2016, Dr. Charles Liu injected Kris with more than 10 million AST-OPC1 stem cells.  The cells were injected directly into his cervical spinal cord.  Researchers hoped that the stem cells would move into the final cord and repair the nerve damage from the accident. 

Incredibly, Kris began to see improvements within the first two weeks, regaining some feeling in the lower parts of his body.  Within 3 months, he was able to move enough to feed himself, use his cellphone and operate his wheelchair.  He was even capable of hugging his family, which was a massive step forward compared to his original condition.

Dr. Liu, director of the USC Neurorestoration Center commented on how much disabled people can benefit from becoming more independent, saying: “Patients who suffer these disabilities want more than anything else to do something for themselves.  They want to be more independent, less dependent. It makes all of us appreciate how important it is that we can do these things.”

Kris is incredibly thankful for his new lease on life, saying: “If I was there and I was able to thank them, I would just tell them, ‘Thank you for giving (me) my life back.  Thank you for allowing me to live my life again.’

Source: Experimental stem cell therapy helps restore paralysed man’s movement

{{cta(‘010124f3-c9bc-4a23-b9fc-74953e6288c9’)}}