Introducing: Nerea
Age: 8 years
Country: Spain (Burriana province)
Suffering from: Cerebral Palsy (premature birth)
Medical history: Nerea was born premature and she had some respiratory issues in the neonatal ICU, which caused a lack of oxygen in her brain, which led to cerebral palsy.
How stem cells changed her life: When Nerea turned 5 years old, her parents received information which talked about the autologous use (self-transplant) of umbilical cord blood stem cells to treat children with cerebral palsy.
“It must be understood that the infusion with stem cells for the treatment of cerebral palsy is not a transplant; it is still considered an experimental treatment.”
Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg at Duke University
Prof. Dept Pediatrics, Chief Scientific Officer,
Robertson Clinical and Translational Cell Therapy Program
Finally, Nerea received an infusion of her own cord blood in order to avoid a detrimental delay in the possibilities of Nerea’s improvement, it was suggested that Nerea should be treated by the team of Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg at Duke University. Dr. Kurtzberg is a well-known and internationally recognized key opinion leader in cord blood therapy and she has conducted a randomized clinical trial using autologous umbilical cord blood units for the treatment of cerebral palsy.
Stem cells at Duke University Medical Center in the United States. This was in July 2017.
