United Kingdom (Wales), 49 years old

Dave had symptoms for nearly ten years. It all started with a wide gait, but this did not affect his quality of life too much. Five years ago, his right arm began to shake when drinking water. Two years ago he started noticing that the external upper leg muscles were getting weak and that his voice had started to thicken, slurring his words. He felt good in the morning but about 3 to 5 p.m., he could no longer speak clearly. His legs got weaker and weaker, and his hands shaked at night. The whole situation turned so bad that he had to go home early from the office to conceal the problem. Then about a year ago, he started having pain in his calves when walking so he could not walk very far. If he was out, he always made a point of sitting close to a toilet, so he would not have to go far to get there. He parked the car close to a shopping mall because it would have been painful to walk a long way. After about seven in the evening, he did not answer the phone in his house: his voice was so thick that he was worried people thought he had been drinking.

Ataxia was diagnosed in 1999. The doctors in Queen’s Hospital in London diagnosed as Ideopathic Cerebellar Ataxia because they couldn't make a more precise diagnosis.

Dave arrived in Shenzhen on January 12th, 2006. Therapy: four stem cells injections, along with nerve growth factor and rehabilitation program.

Before the treatment

He had wide gait and balance problems. When getting up from a chair he stumbled and had to stabilize himself. He had the strength to get out of a chair but he would jump out of the chair as the strength was not controlled. He got up some mornings feeling so weak that he decided not go out. He had to stay at home for two days if he wanted to be strong enough to go out on the third day. He had pain in his legs and he could not carry a cup of tea across the room without spilling.

He still could walk for a long time before but he had to walk at his own pace: if he tried to keep up at the same pace as others, he got a lot of pain. If someone would walk across his path it would have thrown him off his path, with a lot of pain trying to get back in stride. When he stood up to talk to people his legs trembled, forcing him to stand against something to steady himself. He also underwent laser surgery to correct his sight but his left eye showed no signs of improvement: three times Dave tried surgery in that eye with no results, and he finally had to wear glasses to read.

Videos:
Interview Before 1st Injection Play - Download
Walking Before 1st Injection Play - Download
Walking Stairs Before 1st Injection Play - Download

After the treatment

Note: the following lines are basically the video interview text, but since a shorter version was needed for this website we edited the original after going over it with the patient.

"I came here on the 11th of January, this year 2006, with Ataxia. When I arrived after about 200 yards walk, I was in extreme pain in the calves and the back of my legs. Within three days, I had all sorts of tests on my legs, my heart, MRI scans. Everything was checked on me to see what they thought was wrong and so they could see what was happening after the stem cells.

I had the first stem cells treatment three days later. I had a little bit of a rough time with that one but once I got out from that, within a day and a half, I was walking a lot smoother and better than I had for years, and I walked miles. The next day, I seemed to be a little bit leveled off. Within two days, we had more stem cells and the day after that, I noticed that I no longer had cramps in my right arm and my calves. My speech seemed to be getting better.

On the third stem cells, I noticed that my sight too was getting better. When I was at my computer, I was doing the work and I didn’t have glasses on. I didn’t realize I didn’t have glasses on because my sight had just become better. The tremor in my right arm has decreased. Priori f I was standing talking my left leg would have trembled, which now appears to have stopped. My walking has become much better, much smoother. I seem to have more power in my legs. I can now walk and do exercises for two hours, five minutes on, five minutes off... whereas before if I did five minutes, I needed from 10 to 15 minutes off. I would do that three or four times and that would be my lot.

I am trying to think of other improvements but there are so many! I don’t know if you can notice that there are a lot of pimples coming from somewhere. I don’t know if it is just part of different living here or whatever... but there have been a lot of improvements there [giggles]. The other test that was done on me a few times was to touch something back to the nose. When I first came here, my hand would be very shaky going to the nose and I would really have to concentrate. Now it seems as though I can do it with both hands whichever I want. I can hold my hands out as steady as a rock, which was something I could not do before. I can just do it. It is just unbelievable, these are things that I could just not do before I came here.

There are more things, there are. I know there are more because new things are happening all the time, I'm just trying to remember them all now.
The walking, I would say, was one of my major things. I couldn’t walk with my legs together. I always looked like I just got off a horse, a very wide gait. Now I appear to be able to walk now with my legs closer and I do believe this has to do with the stem cells and the therapy, they are working together to do this. I found that on the top of my muscles here (upper outside legs) I was pulling muscles from keeping the legs together. This seems to have gone now and I seem to walk smoother, easier, with less effort and I don’t get so tired. I actually seem to be thinking a bit straighter but I don’t know, maybe it's just because I have rested for a couple of weeks being here.

You know, it is very difficult to remember because there are so many improvements, the situation changes day by day. One thing which I must mention is that from the first stem cell to the third stem cell, I had a day in which I appeared to have gone back towards to the way I was before I came here. I thought it had all gone back, but now it seems to have passed and I have improvements every day. I couldn’t walk with a cup of tea before, I would splash and spill the tea. Now I can walk up and down the corridor with a cup of tea. which is something I have not been able to do for at least two years. So that is another marked improvement which is, you know, visible to everybody.

On steps again, I seem to be able to trot a bit now. Also in the lifts here, you have got to be quick and I can actually trot my way, run into the lift just as fast as anybody now whereas before I really couldn’t. I would have stumbled. I'm not saying I can run now but I can trot a few yards without stumbling".

Interview After 3rd Injection:
Part 1 Play - Download
Part 2 Play - Download
Part 3 Play - Download
Part 4 Play - Download
Part 5 Play - Download

Walking After 2nd Injection Play - Download
Walking After 3rd Injection Play - Download
Walking Stairs After 3rd Injection Play - Download