Update January 2012

The past months I have concentrated more on gym work than being in my walker and I am looking for that muscle build ?. My legs are slowly changing shape and the muscle are forming, my leg hair is still growing. The load  bearing  feeling in my legs seems to be increasing. My frustration is that it is incredibly slow. I feel so close yet so far from lifting my legs. I now have good sensation at the bottom of my right foot.

This makes me want to work harder because I am getting feelings and sensation I have never had before. Feeling in the bottom of my right foot is near normal ( I am thinking this is why I feel the sensation of load bearing ). My progress is slow but constant on average every two weeks I have some recognition of change be that in strength, feeling, movement or muscle shape. I try and use my electronic stimulation machine every day, around two hours. If possible I attach  the electrodes to my lower and upper legs at times when I am watching a DVD or working on my computer. If there is any part of the day that I sit in one location for more than one hour I connect up and make a point of not wasting time. In recent months I can more often  feel the electronic pluses.

My legs are definitely waking up. The changes to me in sensitivity, colour, hair and muscle tone are obvious to me, hence my impatience. I know I must keep going and can not help but feel the answers are coming and I have a lot to be grateful for. I am very grateful to those who read and mail me with encouragement as well as those who mail with questions. I know this is uncharted territory and each day is a learning process. I find my self at a point where the anxieties are unbearable. I suppose this is where I need to draw on faith and the reasons I went to South America in the first place.

Improvements are still coming, leg sensations are changing up and down constantly; some nights as I lay in bed it feels as if my legs are being hit with a cattle prod, powerful electric shocks enough to keep me awake. The strange thing is I never had these shock type feelings in my fingers or trunk as the feeling and movement returned so !! could this be the start of nerve growth and connection. Needless to say if it is then only time will tell. If this be the case then, this be the answer that we are all looking for.

I can only assume that as the hairs on my legs increase and the hair line grows downward toward my feet that stem cells/nerve cells are still working, I can not help but feel impatient but I know that there is not a time scale. There is not an answer to how long it takes for stem cells to activate, then turn into nerve cells, then grow, connect, repair and function ?????????????????

Update June 2011

Since my last update the improvements have come on much faster, my theory on this is that my operation site has settled down and the spinal shock/swelling is calming. I am now actively up and in a walking frame, I am still what you might say wheel chair dependent but my legs are starting to wake up. I felt the weight shift in my legs about eight months ago and since then I feel the weight my legs are taking is increasing, so much so that as I pass my weight from one leg to the other as I stand, this is enabling me to drag my leg through each time to take a step.

Most of my weight is carried through my arms as I stand in a walking frame but my legs are definitely taking a percentage of my weight and over the weeks this weight is increasing. At the moment I can take small sliding steps and can manage three or four steps before I need to sit and rest, this will be a good marker on my progress to see if over the coming months I can take more steps covering a greater distance before resting.

The level of sensations in my body are changing, some days the sensitivity is stronger than others, it seems much stronger after a work out session or walking frame session. 

It strange to think that I can sometimes feel my toe nails being filed but not feel my ankles, on other occasions the feelings are reversed.

I hope to soon update my website with a video upload of my progress in a walking frame.

I remember Dr Geffner telling me that “stem cells are the key to a better quality of life”  but the support of exercise, diet and complementary therapies can feed the need of the body to take the stem cells to there fullest potential. ( FACT).

My trunk muscles have improved and strengthen.  It is wonderful to feel myself in control of my body and my body in control of my movements, posture and balance.

Bladder and bowel are constantly improving, anyone wanting a one to one with any questions can mail me through the contacts page.

Update March2011

Since my last update many changers are taking place in my body, I can recall just after Christmas laid in bed just off to sleep the point when my body was totally relaxed I had a serious of like electric shocks pulsing down both my legs, this lasted for about fifteen minuets, My trunk muscles are much stronger and give very good trunk support I feel that with my breathing being much easier and taking in deeper breaths. Balance and posture are confident building, I feel that I sit in this chair.

I use my tummy muscles to empty my bladder by pushing down this enables me to pass water, this again is working much better and it has been over a year since any infection. 

I am also getting sensation of opening and closing bladder to past water. I work on this as much as possible, I must admit it is hard to get use to trying to use bodily functions again as they seem to awaken.
The muscles in my legs are forming more now and not only do I see change but feel it too. I know that this summer I will be up in my walker and will post a video on my website as soon as I possibly can. I also feel the electric pulses through the pads from my electronic toner, especially after a work out.

I  can not at this moment wiggle toes but feel them trying to move and the good news is that before my operation in Ecuador my toes were white and always puffy making it hard to wash and dry between them. They have become longer and thinner the shape is close to normal and on occasions I can feel the bottoms of my feet. (My toe nails grow with ridges and slightly decoloured, I have been told this is common with spinal injuries)

I now realise that my body not only reacted to the stem cell implant but the operation had an affect on my body as well. The spinal shock that I suffered at the time of the operation was mild as the trauma was not caused by impact but it still had a major affect. I think this caused my rapid weight loss, its hard work but I am now slowly gaining weight with body and muscle tone. It’s a long path but through physical stimulation, electronic stimulation and above all faith I feel in my heart I will get there.

Update November 2010

Things seem to be improving constantly however slowly, I feel muscles forming in my calves and the top muscles of my legs although small are starting to tone. I am amazed at the way my legs are changing both in shape and colour, I try to remain patient but feeling so close to leg function is frustrating.

I change my work out routine as I do not want my brain/muscle coordination to be come programmed. As my legs seem to be taking a small amount of weight I feel my self pushing on them to help me sit up right in my chair after I have picked things up from the floor or lent forwards taking my upper body past the point of balance. The most amazing thing of all to date is that I now feel the weight shift in my legs when I lean left or right whilst in my chair,

There is not a text book with recovery for any one person the recovery I am making after 20 plus years of being in a wheelchair is uncharted territory. Dr Luis Geffner himself would be first to admit that there is no cut point to recovery after bone marrow stem cell implant. I am sure that with out the stimulation of exercise recovery would be even slower and only slight.

Update July 2010

Two years and eight months since my bone marrow stem cell operation and things are changing fast.
I feel this is because  my operation site at my c7 vertebra is calming down (the swelling is going down and the spinal shock is calming). My theory behind this is that if the stem cells do their job in healing the cut and damaged nerves. I will not feel the benefit of this until the swelling calms.
My physiotherapy program is intense,

I am sure that my legs are starting to move.
20 years of work outs things are changing.
I feel the weight shift from one leg through to the other when I move or lean forward in my chair.

The tension in my legs is more powerful, my legs are changing colour yet again.
My legs now look natural, hairs have grown back in many places and I get cramp in my toes. Some time when I transfer from chair to bed/car/beach or shower seat I feel my legs trying to lift me, it’s as if they are taking some of my weight.

After 20 years could I really have this chance of what I spent the last 20 years dreaming of ?

Update March 2010

It now been five months since my last update and the last point of my diary of recovery, twenty seven months on and my trunk muscles are now functioning really well they give better balance and movement. This has improved my posture and stability (my body is healing, progress is still being made).

I felt some change in my legs I could not be sure as to what it may have been. It is difficult to describe the sensations I was feeling, a combination of electric tingles and muscles pluses. Before my bone marrow stem cell implants I had sensations of pull in my legs but never the sensation of tension that I feel now, for years I worked hard with the sensation I had before but never got passed a certain point of recovery but now its as if my boundaries have been lifted and each week I feel a little stronger. I worked hard through the winter in my gym every day and each evening used an electronic body toner on my legs.

The muscle tone in my legs seems to be changing, I can not as yet physically move my legs but I feel them trying, it’s like they are just very heavy. I have to confess I promised myself I would keep an open mind but I have become very excited at the reality of walking again. There are days when I feel the strength returning in my legs and other days they feel weaker, I put this down to the spinal trauma caused at the time of my corrective surgery and bone marrow stem cell implant.

I feel connected to my legs for the first time in since my accident a good example of this is that when I am on my peddle machine I can feel my legs follow the peddles round. I am confident that what I am now feeling is the early stages of leg movement, this gives me a positive mind and encourages me to work even harder in the gym. I intent to update my website again soon to keep all informed of my latest progress.

Stem Cell up date 18 months - implant November 21st 2007 to date - July 30th 2009.

My rate of recovery is hampered by the corrective surgery carried out at the time of my implant needless to say it is pointless implanting stem cells unless the spinal canal is clear. My C7 vertebra was split open and the top fragment had entered the spinal canal blocking and compressing the nerves cutting into the spinal cord by around 45% of the canal.

The protruding bone was cut and removed thus making a small hole where the surgeons drain fluid, defeathered the cord, removed the scare tissue and implanted my bone marrow stem cells.

This was indeed a difficult proceeded and could have resulted in the loss of the movements I had gain over the past 20 years, I always felt that this was a mission on faith and after Dr Geffner and his team had explained the possibilities of the pluses and the minuses of the operation I was still determined to proceed.

Since my last website up date I have made further improvements how ever my recovery is still subject to the spinal swelling that accrued at the time of my operation this in its self could take any thing up to three years to calm. This in fact means that I could well have nerve fibres repaired from my stem cell implant that I will not feel the benefit of until the spinal swelling (spinal shock) calms. This explains the reasons for sensation of touch and movement that come and go, this is very frustrating but at the same time encouraging. My thinking is that if the sensations come and go this must mean that some connection is being made and my hope is that as and when the operation site calms the sensations will all return, lets not forget nerve repair under a microscope may be understood as nerve repair at the point of injury within the spinal cord but this may not have the text book affect at the muscle.

My truck muscles are now strong enough to be of use to me, I can now sit up right, don’t fall across the passengers seat when turning a corner driving my car. When sitting up right on my work out bench with my feet on the floor I can hold my back in sit up straight and come off the point of balance slightly and correct my posture
With out falling over, the strength I have regained also helps with breathing allowing me to take deep breaths.

The feelings in my legs comes and goes the colour in my legs shows redness an indication of good circulation and not the white ghostly affect that they had at the point of my accident and up to the time of bone marrow stem cell implant. At the time of my accident the hairs on my legs stopped growing below my knees and within days after my operation in Ecuador they started growing again and to this day they are still growing.

Ecuador November 2007

In September 1988 I had a fall and broke my neck at c7 level, at the time of my accident I was left paralysed from the chest down this included the loss of movement in my hands. There was never any operation to correct the fracture however after three months some movements and sensations began to return, so much so that with daily physiotherapy I regain limited hand and finger movement, some trunk muscles and the ability to lock my knees allowing me to stand in parallel bars with all my weight going through my arms.

I became frustrated with the consent promise of a cure for spinal injuries; however it soon became apparent that stem cell implants were a promising way forward. I began to study reports from around the world on stem cell progress, many countries were offering implant with promising results.

I contacted most of the organisations asking questions of my concerns and the success with patents to date, most seemed reluctant to give evidence and those that did tended to be shallow all except Doctor Luis Geffner and his team. I was given a full insight to work carried out but patient confidentiality was respected, an M.R.I scan was requested of which I prejudice and based on the information and my history of medical condition Doctor Geffner and his team made their assessment and gave me the fully aware of the possibilities and the risks involved.

As a result of my research I felt the best treatment available to me was with Dr Geffner and his team. I traveled to South America and planned on a three week stay giving me enough time to recover from my operation and prepare for the journey back.

After an intense examination my bone marrow was taken, stem cells where harvested and implanted at the time of my corrective surgery. I was discharged from hospital two days later to rehabilitate in my hotel room with regular visits from Dr Geffner. I returned home feeling very weak and spent the next few months recovering from my operation before starting my intense physiotherapy program.

The first thing I noticed was that my legs changed colour circulation had improved and strangely enough at the time of my accident that hairs below my knees toped growing but within 2 months of implant they started to grow back after twenty years. My back muscles returned and strengthen within three months so much so that I could sit up on my work out bench with no back support. Sensations and muscle tensions are moving down to my toes, I can feel my legs in different areas.

I do not have any regrets about having the operation or stem cell implant the improvements are mind blowing and I have more to work with now to improve my quality of life. I am working towards walking again as now I feel it’s a strong possibility thanks to the work of Dr Luis Geffner.