6 ways stem cells are leading to medicinal miracles
Stem cell therapy has shown tremendous promise in fighting and even eradicating disease, but it can also help us look and feel our best too.
Over the years, we've told you about radical new treatments using stem cells that are helping people defy the odds.
TONIGHT AT 10 P.M.: She was once planning her own funeral. Now meet the woman who is riding horses, getting married and telling Congress how stem cells saved her life.
Meet Tucker Hyatt. The eight-year-old Pearland boy got a new lease on life after doctors suggested his family turn to stem cell treatments to fight a rare disease.
At just 2 years old, Tucker was diagnosed with Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), a rare form of Rheumatoid Arthritis that affects one in 300,000 children in the U.S.
By age 6, Tucker was unable to walk and stopped eating.
After receiving over 500 million of his own stem cells in August 2014, something incredible happened: Tucker was growing and got his appetite back almost immediately.
Kamia Hearns-Quinones, of Chicago, also experienced dramatic results after receiving stem cell treatment for her sickle cell disease.
The inherited illness affects about one in every 500 African Americans.
Hearns-Quinones said instead of excruciating pain attacks, organ failure and a potentially early death, she now looks forward to being on the move two months after stem cell therapy.
"I was just sitting at the dinner table with my family and I said, 'I feel good,' and I was like, 'You guys, wanna go for a run?' That's what I told my husband, 'You wanna go for a run?'" Hearns-Quinones said.
RELATED: Stem cells from patient's own fat make the facelift new again
These stories are no surprise. We've told you how stem cell therapy has resolved paralysis in stroke patients and helped them speak again in the Texas Medical Center.
Eyewitness News also told you how Stanford University researchers recently found that stem cells could help fight aging in the brain, improving memory and learning outcomes.
But the treatments can also have a dramatic affect on what you see in the mirror.
Doctors are now using stem cells to help foster hair growth in men and women who are losing the strands on top of their heads.
Last month, we introduced you to Dr. Franklin Rose, a Houston physician who is using stem cells to create a more natural looking facelift.
At Utopia Plastic Surgery and Medical Spa, Dr. Rose is turning back time by grafting stem cell enhanced fat to the three layers of the face.
Public relations professional Indya Rydman, 48, said she was stunned by what happened after her facelift.
"I love the results. They're very natural and soft and I'm really excited. This facelift is supposed to last 15 to 20 years," Rydman said.
TONIGHT AT 10 P.M.: She was once planning her own funeral. Now meet the woman who is riding horses, getting married and telling Congress how stem cells saved her life.
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