Stem cell treatment helps teenager to walk

A TEENAGER suffering from multiple sclerosis said yesterday that stem cell treatment had helped her walk for the first time in more than a year.

Amanda Bryson, 19, was first diagnosed with the crippling illness five years ago. Her condition, which affects the central nervous system, got worse, forcing her to give up her college studies and to use a wheelchair.

But just minutes after having the €17,600 treatment in a Netherlands clinic last week she said she found it easier to get out of the wheelchair, and was now able to walk with limited support.

The stem cell procedure involved taking stem cells from an umbilical cord and injecting them into the back of her neck on either side of her spine.

“Even before I left the clinic I felt a difference - it was 10 times easier to get out of my wheelchair and it felt like I was jumping out of it,” she said.

“I thought it might just be in my own mind, but when I told the nurse, she said it was normal for people to experience it very quickly. Since then it has been fantastic.

“I am using a frame to walk around the house and I can take baths by myself without having to get my legs lifted for me.

The teenager, from Inverness in Scotland, found out about the clinic in Rotterdam and the treatment it offered after reading an article about someone who had benefited from it.

She made inquiries and last Friday flew to the Netherlands with her parents and fiancé David.

She says now she has no set plans for the future.

“I just want to do my own shopping, the housework and maybe learning to drive - just the normal things.”

“The potential for stem cell therapy to repair the damage caused in multiple sclerosis is well recognised,” a spokesman for the Multiple Sclerosis Society said.

“Research into stem cells and MS is, however, still at an early stage.