When Sam Martin was born with cerebral palsy after a difficult delivery, hospital staff gave his parents, Steve and Kelli, some grim news. "They said there was no way he would live," Kelli said.His parents - both firefighters at the Magnolia station - took Sam home for hospice care during what they thought would be his final days, Kelli said. That was five years ago, and Sam has not only survived, he seems to be getting better, Steve and Kelli say.The reason: physical therapy that started when he was 1 month old, hyperbaric oxygen treatment and stem-cell injections, a controversial treatment Kelli said she learned about doing research on the Internet. "That's how I found out about umbilical stem cells," she said.That news led Sam's parents to make an appointment with a San Diego-based doctor who takes his patients to Tijuana, Mexico, for the shots because its illegal to use them in the United States, Kelli said."I did two umbilical shots and learned there were other kinds of stem cells available," she said. Kelli is talking about fetal stem cells, which are harvested from aborted fetuses.The San Diego doctor told Kelli she could get the treatment for Sam through Medra, a company founded in 1995 by Dr. William Rader, a psychiatrist who once ran a string of private clinics in Los Angeles for the treatment of eating disorders.Medra is based in Malibu, but the fetal-stem-cell injections are administered at a Medra clinic in the Dominican Republic because their use in the United States is illegal. No one at Medra returned a call for comment from the News, but the company's Web site indicates the fetal stem cells used in the treatment come from Medra labs in Eastern Europe. The site notes that stem cells are attracted to damaged areas of the body, where they morph into the same kinds of cells in the surrounding tissue.Medra's Web site touts the effectiveness of fetal stem cells on improving longevity, and the site also claims that fetal-stem-cell therapy can be used to treat not only cerebral palsy, but also epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, autism and Parkinson's Disease. The Medra Web site claims the clinic has treated more than 1,000 children and adults. The stem-cell shots are given intravenously and subcutaneously in the fatty parts of the legs among other locations, Kelli said. The stem cells are picked up by the limbic system and carried to damaged areas, she added.Not everyone believes stem-cell therapy is effective - especially for neurological conditions such as cerebral palsy, according to Dr. Phillip Horner. He works with the Institute of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, a new endeavor of the University of Washington's School of Medicine.Treating a neurological condition with stem cells simply isn't logical, according Horner. "There's very little evidence that the cells make it into the brain if injected peripherally," he said. The blood-brain barrier prevents that from happening except right after a major stroke or traumatic head injury when the barrier is already broken, the doctor said. Furthermore, Horner went on to say, there have been no clinical trials indicating otherwise.Speaking at the Esperanza clinic in Crown Hill, where Sam undergoes physical therapy, Kelli and Steve swear that the two umbilical-stem-cell and three fetal-stem-cell treatments Sam has undergone have made a difference for their son. He normally has tight muscles, and now he's much looser, she said. "And he could never sit (up)," Kelli said of something Sam was able to do for the first time the day before she and Steve were interviewed for this story.As for Horner's contention that stem cells can't pass the blood-brain barrier, both Kelli and Steve said they've heard that before. But Steve was told that adding sugar to the shots allows the stem cells to pass the barrier. "You can smell the sugar on his breath (after the shots)," he said, adding that the clinic smells like corn syrup.Opting for stem-cell treatments hasn't been cheap for the Martins. The first series cost $30,000 while subsequent series of shots cost $12,500 apiece, Kelli said. "If I see improvement, then I'll continue to do it," she said. The improvements in Sam have been small so far, Kelli admits. "It's not like he gets to leave his wheelchair in the Dominican Republic."Both Kelli and Steve have faced skepticism about their choice of treatment for Sam, as well. "The thing about it is, so many people will tell you it's snake oil," is how Steve put it. But with a child like Sam, he and Kelli are willing to do anything that might help, he said.On the flip side, the Medra Web site lists patient case histories that verge on the miraculous, and Kelli said a recent story ran on the Today Show about a child being able to talk and walk for the first time after using his own stored umbilical stem cells for treatment.The Martins aren't overly bothered that the stem cells used to treat their son come from aborted fetuses. "I look at it as an organ donation," Steve said. Kelli agrees. "Abortions happen anyway," she said. "My thought is, have something positive come from it."Kelli and Steve said they intend to continue with the controversial treatments for their son. "We're planning on going three or four times a year," Steve said. "As often as we can make it happen without impacting us too much," added Kelly.Expenses aside, that might take some doing. The Martins have another son, 3-year-old Mac, and Kelli is eight months pregnant.Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.[[In-content Ad]]
