Bobby Chia (Foto by Allan Defensor)

THERE is a lot of hype going on in some circles about stem cell therapy: Is it a cure-all? Is it the elusive fountain of youth?

Wikipedia definesstem cell therapy as the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition.The process involves the administration of live whole cells or maturation of a specific cell population in a patient for the treatment of the disease as has been done in bone marrow transplants.

Bobby Chia, a Thai national who was in Cebu for a brief visit, said that stem cell therapy has been done in Villa Medica, Germany, since the 1960s. He learned about it 10 years ago when his mother had cancer and he looked around for the best medical care for her and found it in Villa Medica. It made her so much better (she can even play tennis now) that four years ago, Chia bought the clinic being run by Dr. Geoffrey Huertgen, a third generation doctor of that clinic.

The stem cell can be taken from the patient himself, but Chia says this stem source is naturally as old as the patient himself. Villa Medica chooses to use stem cells from fetuses of sheep (he said that stem cells from any mammal would be the same, but sheep stem cells are the ones more readily available). The process for Villa Medica, says Chia, involves the designing of a cocktail of stem cells to address whatever needs correction. If the eyes are not good, we choose the eyes. If the ears are not good, we choose the ears. If the heart is not good, we choose the heart. The procedure has been known to treat diseases and ailments like Parkinsons, diabetes, hypertension, migraine, allergies etc.

It (stem cell therapy) does not make you 18 years old all over again but it energizes you; from not being able to walk to walking again. It gives you a better quality of life. It is not a quick cure, but for a lot of people it is. We offer a choice for people who have no hope, Chia shares. But my main target is people who are not sick, Chia states, referring to athletes, models, professionals who want to have a better quality of life.

Chia says there are four doctors in Villa Medica. Since the cell therapy is patient-specific, the patient needs to stay four days and four nights at the clinic: for a detox program, for physical check-up, for interview, for determining the cocktail of stem cells to be used and how. The result, Chia says,is not immediate. It may take six weeks or even longer for the stem cells to do their work.

Chia says he has had about 150 patients coming from Cebu. Leaf through the pages of the local papers, one of them might just be there!

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 27, 2015.

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