My stem cells transplant clinical trial...

I am just getting my story out there, hopefully it can be beneficial to others.

This took place 2 years ago, and I posted this on another MS site, patientslikeme, but I just found out about this site now, so hopefully this reaches others who don't know about it.

I had been doing very poorly, leg/arm weakness/numbness, and no coordination or balance on my left side, basically dead weight, your basic MS problems. I needed a walker/wheelchair to go outside and wasn't able to walk far at all, even with a walker. My depression was at a suicidal level, and I felt hopeless.

But then I started realizing that you have to help yourself because nobody else will. So I started researching clinical trials and came across one that had to do with stem cells and MS. Intrigued, I looked further into it. I watched videos about the procedure and what they were trying to accomplish. The gist of it is that they want to get your MS at a stable level, with no more flare-ups, without having to take medication anymore. So I contacted the people I needed to, and a month later I was in the doctors office to see if I qualified for the trial. The doctor told me I was a perfect candidate, then the testing began. I must have gone through 30 exams and tests (EKG's, Mri's, etc...) before the process could start. The procedure began and went like this.

First, I had to give myself injections of a drug called neupogen which grew more stem cells in me. Then, they placed a temporary cathetar in my neck to extract my stem cells. Once that was done I was able to go home for a week to relax. Then, I went back to the site and began my hospital stay, getting ready for my cells to be re-infused. But first I was given four straight days of chemotherapy to kill my immune system. Then the next day(day 0), my stem cells were re-infused into me via a triple lumen line from my arm going near my heart. They call day 0 your birthday, because it is like you're becomming re-born, a new person, starting over from the beginning with you're immune system. Then, I was given 5 days of the neupogen again to grow more cells to restart my immune system. They DO NOT call it a cure in any way, but the results have been overwhelmingly great. Apparently, no person who has had the procedure has had another flare-up, and a lot of those people are living symptom free for years. Well that's about it, my story is done. This was 2 years ago, & I wasn't able to walk. I could get out of my bed & hobbling with a walker, and not far. Now, I don't need any assisstance walking in my house, I barely need a cane to walk outside, sometimes I go out without my cane if it's going to be a short trip. My strength is close to where it was before the MS crippled me, immune system is built back up, and most importantly, I haven't had another flare-up since.

I'll reiterate, I'm not trying to get others to do this, I'm just telling my story, hopefully it can help some people in some way though.

The only thing I will push is the doctor's name who has been working on this for over twenty years. Dr. Richard Burt. He has videos and articles that explain what he is trying to do. He is extremely passionate about his work and actively participates in seeing every patient that goes through this procedure every day with just checking out how they're progressing.

Well that's it. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask anything. Thank you.

-Eric