Patient story of Christopher Giacobbe Wallet, 13 years, Cerebral palsy
Date of birth: 1995
Family: Christopher has a twin sister
Disease treated: Cerebral Palsy
How it happened (related by Christopher’s mother Ritu)
My 13-year-old son Christopher was born with Cerebral Palsy. He is comprehensively delayed and his development is that of an 8-year-old. Despite the strong physical restrictions, he is bound to a wheelchair and he is quite spastic, Christopher is in the 8th grade at a regular school. He uses a special keyboard on his computer and is supported by a full time assistant.
Christopher has a twin sister, Kristina. He is always trying to keep up with her, but his condition often makes it hard.
I have been researching stem cell therapy for nearly seven years now and have watched the progress and general discussion about such treatments closely. I was hoping for a chance for my son to receive one. I found out about the XCell-Center in Cologne in December 2007.
Treatment with stem cells in August 2008
In August of 2008 Christopher, Kristina and I travelled to Cologne, where an excellent team surrounding neurosurgeon Dr. Angy Etou, who was very understanding and sensitive of Christopher’s condition, welcomed us.
The bone marrow was extracted from Christopher’s hip bone under general anaesthesia and the stem cells were reimplanted by lumbar puncture three days later. Christopher has no recollection of the treatment and even asked, “Why did we visit the XCell Center at all”, but he remembers Cologne vividly, especially the Cathedral, which he now calls “The Christopher Castle”.
Results
“he has begun talking in complete sentences”
While still in Germany, approximately 2-3 days after the stem cells were transplanted, we started noticing changes in Christopher’s speech pattern. Until then he only spoke in fragmented sentences but now he has begun talking in complete sentences. This improvement came much quicker than I thought it would. After our return home, he could suddenly hold himself up with no assistance for about 20 to 35 seconds. Prior to the therapy with stem cells the maximum was about 2 seconds. Every week since then we notice further improvements, Christopher’s fine motor skills have developed, his aim has improved, and he can hold his fork and eat without help. He is also able to understand things much better and asks detailed questions.
Outlook
We are looking forward to Christopher’s next steps; the improvements so far have been quite remarkable.
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