Day 40 – Beginning our journey home!
Wow…it’s finally here! I am full of emotion. Happiness to be going home and sadness to be saying farewell to our wonderful new friends. You probably want to know if I think it has been worth coming half way around the world to China seeking help for Nathan’s cerebral palsy. Here are some of my thoughts.
I did not come to China expecting instant results or miracles, but I said I would gladly accept them. After asking the head doctor at Duke University for cerebral palsy research in June if I had exhausted all avenues available in the USA for helping Nathan, she responded, “Yes”. She told me to be patient and wait for 2 years and studies on donor umbilical cord blood would hopefully be starting in Chapel Hill. She said she would make sure Nathan was part of the research. That night was the night I made the decision that it was time to get serious about going to China. I could sit around and wait for my miracle here or I could at least try to help Nathan. From a mother’s perspective…what if 10 years from now the USA is finally realizing that stem cells work to repair damage. Stem cells appear to benefit children more than adults and the theory in China is their little brains are still growing. The stem cells help adults too, but stem cells grow new tissue as the brain grows in children. If I did not take this gamble now, the stem cells would not likely benefit Nathan as much in his adult life.
I am not an outspoken political person, but I am going to make a political statement on stem cell therapy. I personally witnessed in China enough improvements in the other patients to know whether or not Nathan has improvements in the months to come that stem cells help repair damage to our bodies. Our government needs to get beyond embryotic research and strive to catch up to all the countries that are ahead of the USA in stem cell therapy…not research. I firmly believe our government wants Americans to think we are making advances in stem cell research. If they keep the main focus on embryotic research, then the ethical issues will always prevent stem cell therapy from ever reaching its full potential in the USA. Leave the little babies in petry dishes alone and get on with research in umbilical cord stem cells! For goodness sake, we throw it away as medical waste! Let’s work on getting insurance companies to cover banking umbilical cord blood containing stem cells as a covered cost of delivery for our children. All umbilical cord blood has been banked in China since 2001. As is in the USA, the Chinese family can purchase it to bank it for their child. However, if they cannot afford that, then it is banked at the blood bank. Nothing is thrown away as medical waste. Stem cells are liquid gold. This is probably going to be my biggest earth shaking comment of all about my opinion on stem cell therapy. I honestly don’t think we will ever see stem cell therapy in the USA for much more than is being researched at this point (MS, Spinal Cord Injury & Diabetes). Why do I think that? I think there is too much money to be made off of sick people and it would hurt our economy too much to have cures. The pharmaceutical companies alone would drastically suffer. That is the end of my political speech. I hope I have not offended anyone too much.
Now as far as my sweet Nathan goes… It pleases me so much to say we have already seen improvements in him. Although in your worlds these are minor improvements they are huge for us. I am thrilled to have any improvements at all this early. Nathan has made more progress in the last 6 weeks than in the last 2 years with conventional therapy. His head control is so much better. Head control and trunk control could later mean he might sit up unassisted. Head control and trunk control could also mean drooling might improve and if drooling improves he might be able to verbalize! His muscle spasticity has definitely been improved and his joints are not nearly as tight. The possibilites are gigantic and worth going to China in my world. You likely took these things in your kids for granted in your households. I took so much for granted with Will. Close to perfect kids don’t always happen. If you have even close to perfect kids, please thank whatever God you worship! I really tried to prepare myself that we would not see anything this early, but I am bubbling over with excitement and I now look forward to the days ahead rather than dread them so much. I know the opinion of one of my doctors about going to China. Prior to leaving on our trip he informed me if Nathan showed improvement, he would not be able to attribute it to stem cell therapy because there would not be a comparison group. I asked the doctor if Nathan showed any improvement at all upon his return, no matter how big or how small, if he could find it in his heart to simply be happy for us. He said if Nathan showed any improvements that it was Nathan’s time to get better and not because of stem cells.
Whether it is his time to get better or whether the 80 million new stem cells that have been administered to Nathan over the last 6 weeks are already busy at work I am beyond happy for Nathan. Has it been worth it so far and do I give the stem cells credit?…ABSOLUTELY! As the brain and new tissue grow together our hopes are high for bridges filling the damaged gaps allowing neurons that did not connect to start sending signals. Once signals start life improving qualities begin.
We watch a lot of the Disney channel in our household between Will and Nathan. Miley Cyrus, also known as Hannah Montana, has a song that Will and I named as Nathan’s theme song quite a while back. It is called “The Climb”. You may have heard it on the radio and really never paid attention to the words, but for us the words are very powerful. I hope you enjoy reading those words of the song below. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all of you who have followed Nathan’s Climb. It’s not about how fast he gets there, but the fact that he is trying. We will be allowed to keep our blog going for the next year so you can visit the site and see any developments. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and most importantly “Keep the Faith!”. We’re heading HOME!
On the way to Qingdao Airport! Our interpreter, Michael, showing off Nathan’s good-bye gift of a USA baseball t-shirt!
“The Climb” by Miley Cyrus!
I can almost see it
That dream I’m dreaming
But there’s a voice inside my head saying
“You’ll never reach it”
Every step I’m taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking
But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high
There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to loose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb!
The struggles I’m facing
The chances I’m taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I’m not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I’m gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going
And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on
Cause, there’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to loose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb!
Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It’s all about, it’s all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep the faith!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2zyeVRcbs
Thank you China for giving us the opportunity to attempt to help Nathan. You will be forever in our hearts!
Stay tuned for future blogs!
Add comment September 20th, 2009
