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My Nepsis Stem Cell Treatment
First Article Update
written by Dr. A.G. Payne & Jerry Porter
(Dr.Payne)
Jerry Porter,44 calls ships his 2nd home. And no wonder, having served 5 years with distinction aboard various ships in the US Coast Guard and then many years as first a tech, then an engineer aboard various private fishing vessels, most operating out of the Pacific Northwest. Not unexpectedly, by the early 2000s Porter was chief engineer on a large commerical ship that sails out of Seattle and fishes the waters of Alaska. He had the world by the tail and every reason to believe the future would be as bright and filled with promise as his past had been. And why not? He was healthy, robust, doing well in his chosen career, and had a loving supportive wife (Monica) and daughter (Rachel) who kept the home
fires burning while he was away at sea. But unbeknowst to him a rouge wave was about to strike and threathen to capsize his life.
Chief Porter's storm-at-sea began with "having fasciculation's (twitching) in his right ring finger." Within one week the fasciculation's had traveled into his right forearm. No one wants to think the worst and Porter was no exception. And then, too, he had been exposed to freon gas, so maybe what he was experiencing was merely a side-effect of that. But when his hand locked up and made it impossible to manipulate tools or even hold a spoon, he knew something was afoot. Porter's ship's doctor had his own qualms, and elected to send Porter ashore for a complete neurologic work-up. By 2005 the doctors had a verdict: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- Lou's Gehrig's disease.
Not unlike most other ALS sufferers, Chief Porter set out on a quest to determine what he could do to get the upper hand on his particular affliction. Since standard, FDA approved drugs confer little in the way of benefit, he began researching unproved but promising treatments. This led him to try umbilical cord stem cell therapy outside the USA, which led to short lived improvements. Later, he implemented a novel program for ALS which ultimately wound up published in the peer-reviewed journal, Medical Hypotheses Experimental regimen targeting the ependyma slows disease progression in four patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. According to Chief Porter, most of the people he knows that were diagnosed with ALS at the same time he was wound up severly disabled or dead while he hung in and was able to keep walking, driving and caring for himself.
Of course, like all ALS patients Chief Porter's disease did progress, eventually eroding his ability to keep his balance if bumped into by other people, his ability to lift his arms, button his shirt, and so forth. Not surprisingly he was as relentless, methodical and logical in his quest for leading edge promising treatments as he had been in fixing broken engines and machinery on the ships he had served aboard. Naturally stem cell approaches figured prominently in Chief Porter's unending search for the road to Wellville.
One of the stem cell research programs Chief Porter kept tabs on was underway at Weller Health Institute & Laboratory in southern California. Here, researcher Chauncey Sayre and his team pioneered innovative ways to take bone marrow derived precursor cells and not only prime them to become neurons, heart cells, etc. but also program them to zero in on desired tissues or organs. In addition, these intrepid scientists developed a method for transforming liver cells into fully pluripotent stem cells (iPS - induced pluripotent cells) without the use of viruses or the kinds of cell-altering chemicals used by researchers elsewhere in the world. And as if these genuinely revolutionary scientific innovations were not enough, Chauncey came up with a method for replicating cells at an unprecedented rate, such that hundreds of millions of stem cells can be generated almost overnight!
Chief Porter liked what he was seeing unfold in Weller's think tank and lab. Told this technology would be licensed during 2009 to Nepsis Institute-Mexico for experimental use by doctors at the Fernando Ramirez Clinic (Tijuana), he was among the very first to signal his desire to be treated with cells taken from his own body and "engineered" to tackle his disease. He didn't have to wait long.
On February 26th Porter had about a teaspoon of bone marrow removed from his hip bone by Dr. Fernando Ramirez Del Rio and his medical team (in Mexico). The marrow was entrusted to scientists and technicians who proceeded to extract precursor cells, then prepare them to work repair in his CNS (Central Nervous System). These cells were then turned over to the Mexican surgeons who proceeded to infuse them into Chief Porter's CNS using an intrathecal
procedure (AKA a lumbar puncture or spinal tap).
In the weeks that followed Porter reported numerous changes and improvements in his condition. Then, on March 12th he submitted a brief, but detailed analysis that listed and compared a number of bodily functions and capacities pre and post stem cell treatment. This is Chief Porter's report: (end Dr.Payne)
(Jerry)
As promised ...the following is a list of my improvements from February 26, the day of my procedure, to date:
I first want to reiterate the following improvements are set from a physical fitness test I put myself through on February 23rd to establish a bench mark in hopes of gauging all improvements. I am extremely excited to report the following.
My first test was a verbal one. I timed myself to see how far I could read a loud a specific paragraph in one of my engineering manuals while focusing on annunciating the words as clearly and quickly as I could. I tested myself again yesterday 3-11-09 for the first time since the original test and was able to read 2-1/2 paragraphs in the same amount of time and much more clearly I might add. Everyone is commenting on how improved my speech has become. However, there are times when my speech will be slurred but this is normally after eating or drinking something.
| Physical Fitness Test |
| Function |
Pre-Treatment 2/23/09 |
Post-Treatment 3/11/09 |
| Right arm fully extended out in front of me. |
Not able to do |
28 seconds |
| Left arm fully extended out in front of me |
4 seconds |
30 seconds |
| Both arms fully extended out in front of me. |
Not able to do |
27 seconds |
| Right arm fully extended above my head |
3 seconds |
32 seconds |
| Left arm fully extended above my head |
5 seconds |
29 seconds |
| Both arm fully extended above my head |
Not able to do |
29 seconds |
| Right arm curls with 2.5 lb |
Not able to do |
Not able to do |
| left arm curls with 2.5 lb |
Not able to do |
3.5 reps |
| Towel dry my hair |
Not able to do |
Able to do |
| Put on ankle socks |
Not able to do |
Able to do |
| Put on shirts |
Not able to do |
Able to do (cannot button) |
| Left ring finger downward strength |
No strength |
able to push buttons downward |
| Walking |
Very difficult, but possible |
Much easier (legs no longer lock with each step) |
| Raising bottle of water to mouth |
Not able to do |
Able to do, but difficult |
| Feeding myself |
Difficult - required help |
Easier, no longer require help |
| Grabbing items utilizing opposable thumbs |
Not able to do |
Extremely difficult |
I am looking forward to the iPS line. Hopefully, someone will donate the funds required to purchase the equipment you need to make the iPS line available. (end Jerry)
(Dr.Payne)
It is anticipated that sometime in the next six months Chief Porter will be treated in Mexico with iPS cells created from a sample of his own liver cells. These cells will be programmed to zero in on and repair or otherwise ameliorate the various players in ALS. The scientists who developed this technology as well as the research doctors in Mexico are all convinced that the improvements that will be seen after this particular treatment will far exceed those of the bone marrow derived precursor cell therapy Porter just had. To coin an old phrase from the world of TV and movies, "Stay tuned -- the best is yet to come! (end Dr. Payne)
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