MANILA -- The use of stem cell therapy has become an option in treating different medical conditions.

Stem cells are the body's natural healing cells. They are used by human tissues to repair and regenerate damaged cells. In the right environment, stem cells can change into bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, collagen, neural tissue, blood vessels, and even some organs.

There are two kinds of stem cells: adult or embryonic. Adult stem cells appear to be particularly effective against painful joints, repairing cartilage and ligaments, and even painful conditions along the spine.

Adult stem cells are usually harvested from fat tissues. By using technology, the collagen that binds the fat and the stem cells are broken down, separating a solution rich in the patient's own stem cells, which will then be used for treatment.

Stem cells may be effective in the treatment of macular degeneration, Crohns disease and numerous pulmonary conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and fibrosis. Stem cells are also being used for patients suffering from kidney failure and ailments of the bone, cartilage and joints.

However, stem cell therapy is not recommended for patients with active infections or cancer.

In the Philippines, fat-derived stem cell therapy is available through StemCare Institute. At present, the clinic employs an orthopedic team of doctors and surgeons with international qualifications.

StemCare, with the advancement of stem cell technology and the refinement its of clinical protocols through international experts, now offers more accessible treatment options for patients suffering from these degenerative orthopedic conditions.

Kim Atienza and Inno Sotto. Composite Image

Among the personalities who have used stem cell therapy in the country are Inno Sotto, a fashion designer who is suffering from a tear in his right elbow, and Kim Atineza, who is using fat stem cell injections to help strengthen and repair his knee joints after suffering from Guillain-Barre disease.

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Nishan - Stem Cell Therapy in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) - 13-03-2014
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Sep-2014

Contact: Alanna Orpen alanna.orpen@biomedcentral.com 44-0-20-3192-2054 BioMed Central @biomedcentral

A bioactive compound found in turmeric promotes stem cell proliferation and differentiation in the brain, reveals new research published today in the open access journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy. The findings suggest aromatic turmerone could be a future drug candidate for treating neurological disorders, such as stroke and Alzheimer's disease.

The study looked at the effects of aromatic (ar-) turmerone on endogenous neutral stem cells (NSC), which are stem cells found within adult brains. NSC differentiate into neurons, and play an important role in self-repair and recovery of brain function in neurodegenerative diseases. Previous studies of ar-turmerone have shown that the compound can block activation of microglia cells. When activated, these cells cause neuroinflammation, which is associated with different neurological disorders. However, ar-turmerone's impact on the brain's capacity to self-repair was unknown.

Researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Jlich, Germany, studied the effects of ar-turmerone on NSC proliferation and differentiation both in vitro and in vivo. Rat fetal NSC were cultured and grown in six different concentrations of ar-turmerone over a 72 hour period. At certain concentrations, ar-turmerone was shown to increase NSC proliferation by up to 80%, without having any impact on cell death. The cell differentiation process also accelerated in ar-turmerone-treated cells compared to untreated control cells.

To test the effects of ar-turmerone on NSC in vivo, the researchers injected adult rats with ar-turmerone. Using PET imaging and a tracer to detect proliferating cells, they found that the subventricular zone (SVZ) was wider, and the hippocampus expanded, in the brains of rats injected with ar-turmerone than in control animals. The SVZ and hippocampus are the two sites in adult mammalian brains where neurogenesis, the growth of neurons, is known to occur.

Lead author of the study, Adele Rueger, said: "While several substances have been described to promote stem cell proliferation in the brain, fewer drugs additionally promote the differentiation of stem cells into neurons, which constitutes a major goal in regenerative medicine. Our findings on aromatic turmerone take us one step closer to achieving this goal."

Ar-turmerone is the lesser-studied of two major bioactive compounds found in turmeric. The other compound is curcumin, which is well known for its anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties.

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Turmeric compound boosts regeneration of brain stem cells

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Sep-2014

Contact: Guido Silvestri gsilves@emory.edu 404-727-9139 PLOS

A study published on September 25th in PLOS Pathogens reports a new primate model to test treatments that might cure HIV/AIDS and suggests answers to questions raised by the "Berlin patient", the only human thought to have been cured so far.

Being HIV-positive and having developed leukemia, the Berlin patient underwent irradiation followed by a bone-marrow transplant from a donor with a mutation that abolishes the function of the CCR5 gene. The gene codes for a protein that facilitates HIV entry into human cells, and the mutationin homozygous carriers who, like the donor, have two defective copiesprotects against HIV infection.

Several factors could have contributed to the cure of HIV/AIDS in the patient: (1) the ablation of blood and immune cells following irradiation killed all or many of the viral reservoir cells that are not eliminated by antiretroviral treatment (ART); (2) the CCR5 deletion mutation in the donor cells protected them and their progeny from HIV infection; (3) a "graft versus host" reaction occurred, where the transplanted cells and their progeny recognize the host cells as foreign and attacked and eliminated HIV-positive reservoir cells that survived the irradiation.

Guido Silvestri, from Emory University in Atlanta, USA, and colleagues investigated the relative contribution of the irradiation to eliminate the reservoir of HIV-infected cells. The scientists worked with the animal model of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV, a close relative of HIV that infects primates and causes a disease similar to AIDS) infection in rhesus macaques. Using a total of six monkeys (three of which served as controls and did not receive transplants) they performed, for the first time, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in rhesus macaques infected with a chimeric simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) and treated with ART.

The researchers harvested hematopoetic stem cells from three macaques prior to infection (of all six animals) with SHIV. They also treated the macaques with ART to reduce viral load and mimic the situation in human HIV-infected patients on ART. They then exposed the three monkeys from which they had collected hematopietic stem cells to a high dose of radiation. This killed most of their existing blood and immune cells, including between 94 and 99% of their CD4-T cellsthe main target of HIV infectionin the blood. The irradiation was followed by transplantation of each monkey's own virus-free hematopoietic stem cells. The latter can regenerate the blood and immune cells, and did so in all three monkeys within 3 to 6 weeks. Because the transplanted cells are not from a different donor, no graft versus host disease would be expected, and none was observed.

After that time, the scientists stopped ART in all six monkeys. As expected, the virus rebounded rapidly in the control animals. Of the three transplanted animals, two also showed a rapid rebound. The third monkey developed kidney failure two weeks after ART was stopped and was euthanized. It still had undetectable levels of virus in the blood at that time, but post-mortem analysis showed low levels of viral DNA in a number of tissues, arguing that none of the three transplanted monkeys was cured.

The researchers acknowledge a number of limitations of the study, including the small number of monkeys, and the relatively short period of ART prior to irradiation and transplantation. Nonetheless, they say their study "supports the hypothesis that myeloablative total body irradiation can cause a significant decrease in the viral reservoir in blood cells, even though it was not sufficient to eliminate all reservoirs". Their results, they say, suggest that in the cure of the Berlin patient, "the use of the CCR5 mutant donor and/or the presence of graft versus host disease played a significant role".

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Stem cell transplant does not cure SHIV/AIDS after irradiation of infected rhesus macaques

Scientists at a Birmingham university have carried out research which could help find a cure for leukaemia.

The study by researchers at the University of Birmingham has been described as a key step in the process to understanding how the disease develops.

The research specifically investigated acute myeloid leukaemia and looked at the way blood cells behave in patients suffering from the illness.

University Professor Constanze Bonifer explained: Stem cells in the bone marrow generate billions of different blood cells each day. The process resembles a production line with genes acting as regulators to control each step of the blood formation.

Leukaemia arises when the DNA encoding regulators in the stem cells is changed by a mutation.

When a mutation occurs in the relevant regulator genes, the finely balanced order of the production line is disrupted with drastic consequences.

A chain reaction occurs, with the function of other regulators in the process being altered. The new cells no longer develop into normal blood cells, but leukemic cells that multiply and begin to take over the body.

The team, which carried out the research alongside experts from Newcastle University, used state-of-the-art technology to see how the cells could be manipulated to stop them from causing the disease.

Professor Olaf Heidenreich, of Newcastle University, said: One aberrant regulator reprograms thousands of genes. If targeting it can reverse the changes it is making to the cellular production line then it would ultimately point towards new avenues for a more precise treatment of leukaemia.

Knowing that the production line can be restored to normal function gives us real hope. Of course, that is much easier to do in the lab that it is in the human body.

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Sep-2014

Contact: Krista Conger kristac@stanford.edu 650-725-5371 Stanford University Medical Center @sumedicine

Over 500 million people worldwide carry a genetic mutation that disables a common metabolic protein called ALDH2. The mutation, which predominantly occurs in people of East Asian descent, leads to an increased risk of heart disease and poorer outcomes after a heart attack. It also causes facial flushing when carriers drink alcohol.

Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have learned for the first time specifically how the mutation affects heart health. They did so by comparing heart muscle cells made from induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, from people with the mutation versus those without the mutation. IPS cells are created in the laboratory from specialized adult cells like skin. They are "pluripotent," meaning they can be coaxed to become any cell in the body.

"This study is one of the first to show that we can use iPS cells to study ethnic-specific differences among populations," said Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and professor of cardiovascular medicine and of radiology.

"These findings may help us discover new therapeutic paths for heart disease for carriers of this mutation," said Wu. "In the future, I believe we will have banks of iPS cells generated from many different ethnic groups. Drug companies or clinicians can then compare how members of different ethnic groups respond to drugs or diseases, or study how one group might differ from another, or tailor specific drugs to fit particular groups."

The findings are described in a paper that will be published Sept. 24 in Science Translational Medicine. Wu and Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD, professor of chemical and systems biology, are co-senior authors of the paper, and postdoctoral scholar Antje Ebert, PhD, is the lead author.

ALDH2 and cell death

The study showed that the ALDH2 mutation affects heart health by controlling the survival decisions cells make during times of stress. It is the first time ALDH2, which is involved in many common metabolic processes in cells of all types, has been shown to play a role in cell survival. In particular, ALDH2 activity, or the lack of it, influences whether a cell enters a state of programmed cell death called apoptosis in response to stressful growing conditions.

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Stanford scientists use stem cells to learn how common mutation in Asians affects heart health

Over 500 million people worldwide carry a genetic mutation that disables a common metabolic protein called ALDH2. The mutation, which predominantly occurs in people of East Asian descent, leads to an increased risk of heart disease and poorer outcomes after a heart attack. It also causes facial flushing when carriers drink alcohol.

Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have learned for the first time specifically how the mutation affects heart health. They did so by comparing heart muscle cells made from induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, from people with the mutation versus those without the mutation. IPS cells are created in the laboratory from specialized adult cells like skin. They are "pluripotent," meaning they can be coaxed to become any cell in the body.

"This study is one of the first to show that we can use iPS cells to study ethnic-specific differences among populations," said Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and professor of cardiovascular medicine and of radiology.

"These findings may help us discover new therapeutic paths for heart disease for carriers of this mutation," said Wu. "In the future, I believe we will have banks of iPS cells generated from many different ethnic groups. Drug companies or clinicians can then compare how members of different ethnic groups respond to drugs or diseases, or study how one group might differ from another, or tailor specific drugs to fit particular groups."

The findings are described in a paper that will be published Sept. 24 in Science Translational Medicine. Wu and Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD, professor of chemical and systems biology, are co-senior authors of the paper, and postdoctoral scholar Antje Ebert, PhD, is the lead author.

ALDH2 and cell death

The study showed that the ALDH2 mutation affects heart health by controlling the survival decisions cells make during times of stress. It is the first time ALDH2, which is involved in many common metabolic processes in cells of all types, has been shown to play a role in cell survival. In particular, ALDH2 activity, or the lack of it, influences whether a cell enters a state of programmed cell death called apoptosis in response to stressful growing conditions.

The use of heart muscle cells derived from iPS cells has opened important doors for scientists because tissue samples can be easily obtained and maintained in the laboratory for study. Until recently, researchers had to confine their studies to genetically engineered mice or to human heart cells obtained through a heart biopsy, an invasive procedure that yields cells which are difficult to keep alive long term in the laboratory.

"People have studied the enzyme ALDH2 for many years in animal models," said Ebert. "But there are many significant differences between mice and humans. Now we can study actual human heart muscle cells, conveniently grown in the lab."

The iPS cells in this study were created from skin samples donated by 10 men, ages 21-22, of East Asian descent.

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Knee Stem Cell Injections
Knee Stem Cell Injections can be a treatment for chronic pain such as Avascular Necrosis as a means of non-surgical treatment as opposed to surgery. Stem Cell Injections for Knee Osteoarthritis...

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Boston, Massachusetts (PRWEB) September 25, 2014

The ASCTCs (website) Director James L. Sherleys first BioPharm America (conference website) experience got off to a remarkable beginning on Day 1 of the conference. After an impromptu decision to participate in the events Perfect Pitch competition, which involved about 40 company contestants, ASCTC tied for second place. As one of a few companies in the stem cell and regenerative medicine space at the conference, this success led to some attendees referring to Sherley as that stem cell guy. Sherley smiled, I take it as a fun compliment. I do think it was the unique presence of ASCTC as one of a few stem cell companies present in a sea of drug development companies that contributed to our success.

However, the ASCTCs pitch to a panel of Pharma investors was in fact more about drugs than stem cells. Sherley pitched the companys partnership venture with AlphaSTAR Corporation (ASC; website) located in Long Beach, California. ASC develops computer simulation analyses to predict the integrity failure of complex composite materials used to build aircraft, racing cars, and other high stress vehicles like the space shuttle. The two companies have integrated their respective expertise to produce a first-of-its-kind computer simulation-based technology for identifying, at the beginning of the drug development pipeline, drug candidates that are toxic to tissue stem cells. Such toxicity causes drugs to fail in expensive preclinical studies and clinical trials, and even after marketing.

At the conference, Sherley commented, I think we are starting to get their [drug companies] attention now. In his pitch of the new AlphaStem tissue stem cell toxicity technology, he emphasized that the ASCTC projects that this technology could save the U.S. Pharma industry about $4 billion of the estimated $40 billion that it spends on failed drug candidates each year. Besides reducing cost and accelerating the development of needed new drugs, the AlphaStem technology would reduce that exposure of patients to particularly harmful drug candidates.

The ASCTC was not the only company at the conference active within the regenerative medicine space. On the first evening of the conference, ASCTC was one of several guest companies and academic institutions in the regenerative medicine space that were invited to a VIP dinner co-hosted by BioPharm Americas producer, EBD Group, and the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine. The guest party dined at the Top of the Hub Restaurant on the top floor of Bostons Prudential Tower.

BioPharm America conferences are designed to arrange many one-to-one meetings among participants of diverse expertise in the international pharmaceutical industry. Over the three-day conference, ASCTC Director Sherley met with Pharma executives, contract research organization directors, Pharma business development consultants, and Pharma investment group partners towards establishing new strategic relationships for the company.

On the final morning of the conference, the ASCTC was one of eleven companies selected to present in the Next Generation Company session. Director Sherley focused his presentation on how the ASCTCs unique expertise in tissue stem cell asymmetric self-renewal gives the company its exclusive position in commercialization of technologies for counting, manufacturing, and monitoring human tissue stem cells. Asymmetric self-renewal is the defining property of tissue stem cells that allows them to maintain the genomic blueprint of human tissues while continuously producing the building block cells of body tissues at the same time. Sherley expressed that asymmetrically self-renewing stem cells in organs and tissues of children and adults will eventually be understood as the fulcrum at the center, between the mature industry of pharmaceutical therapeutics and the emerging industry of cell-based therapeutics. Thats the ASCTC vision.

************************************************************************************************************* The Adult Stem Cell Technology Center, LLC is a Massachusetts life sciences company established in September 2013 (ASCTC; join mailing list). ASCTC Director and founder, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D. is the foremost authority on the unique properties of adult tissue stem cells. The companys patent portfolio contains biotechnologies that solve the three main technical problems production, quantification, and monitoring that have stood in the way of successful commercialization of human adult tissue stem cells for regenerative medicine and drug development. In addition, the portfolio includes novel technologies for isolating cancer stem cells and producing induced pluripotent stem cells. Currently, ASCTC is employing its technological advantages to pursue commercialization of mass-produced therapeutic human liver cells and facile assays that are early warning systems for drug candidates with catastrophic toxicity due to adverse effects against adult tissue stem cells.

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Basic Evaluation Before PRP and Stem Cell Therapy in Osteoarthritis Knee
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Vivek - Stem Cell Therapy in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Sep-2014

Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society @ACSpressroom

The liver provides critical functions, such as ridding the body of toxins. Its failure can be deadly, and there are few options for fixing it. But scientists now report in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces a way to potentially inject stem cells from tonsils, a body part we don't need, to repair damaged livers all without surgery.

Byeongmoon Jeong and colleagues point out that currently, the only established method for treating liver failure or severe cases of liver disease is complete or partial transplantation. But the need is much greater than the number of available organs. Plus, surgery has inherent risks and a hefty price tag. A promising alternative in development is transplanting liver cells. One such approach involves using adult stem cells to make liver cells. Stem cells from bone marrow could be used, but they have limitations. Recently, scientists identified another source of adult stem cells that could be used for this purpose tonsils. Every year, thousands of surgeries are performed to remove tonsils, and the tissue is discarded. Now it could have a new purpose, but scientists needed a way to grow them on a 3-D scaffold that mimics real liver tissue. Jeong's team set out to do just that.

The researchers encapsulated tonsil-derived stem cells in a heat-sensitive liquid that turns into a gel at body temperature. They added substances called growth factors to encourage the stem cells to become liver cells. Then, they heated the combination up to a normal body temperature. The result was a 3-D, biodegradable gel that contained functioning liver cells. The researchers conclude that the same process has promise with some further tweaking for ideal conditions as an injectable tissue engineering technique to treat liver disease without surgery.

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The authors acknowledge funding from the National Research Foundation of Korea.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

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Tonsil stem cells could someday help repair liver damage without surgery

Stemedix Stem Cell Therapy for ALS - Patient Experience: Dr. Robert K., MD
Stemedix treats Dr. Robert K., MD. for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Dr. Robert speaks about his patient experience with Stemedix after receiving Stemedix adipose stem cell treatment....

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Autism complex treatment with stem cell therapy
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Newswise LOUISVILLE, Ky. William Tse, M.D., associate professor of medicine and eminent scholar in hematologic malignancies research at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at West Virginia University, has been named the new director of Bone Marrow Transplantation at the University of Louisville James Graham Brown Cancer Center, a part of KentuckyOne Health. Tse will join UofL Nov. 1.

Tse will hold the Marion F. Beard Endowed Chair in Hematology Research at UofL and become a member of the cancer centers Developmental Biology Program.

Dr. Tse is emerging as one of the thought leaders in bone marrow transplantation, said Donald Miller, M.D., Ph.D., director of the JGBCC. He has trained and worked at several of the leading blood cancer programs in the nation. We look forward to his leading our program at UofL.

Tse has been at West Virginia since 2009, where he also is the co-leader the Osborn Hematologic Malignancies Program. Prior to joining West Virginia, Tse was on the faculty at the University of Colorado Denver, where he was the director of translational research program for bone marrow transplantation and hematologic malignancies. He also previously was with Case Western Reserve University and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington Medical Center.

Tse is active in national organizations, serving in several capacities with the American Society of Hematology, including section chair for the annual meetings Oncogene Section and bone marrow transplantation outcome section, as well as the American Society of Clinical Oncology as an annual meeting abstract reviewer and the section chair on geriatric oncology. Tse also serves leadership roles on several editorial boards including as the senior editor of the American Journal of Blood Research, stem cell biomarkers section editor for Biomarker Research, senior editor of the American Journal of Stem Cells and the academic editor of PLoS One.

A graduate of the Sun Yat-Sen University School of Medicine in Guangzhou, Guangdong, in China, he did a thoracic surgical oncology residency at Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou before completing postdoctoral research fellowships in medical biophysics, immunology and cancer at the Princess Margaret Hospital/Ontario Cancer Institute and the Hospital for Sick Children in Ontario, Canada. He completed clinical pathology and internal medicine residencies at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital before undertaking a senior medical fellowship in clinical research and medical oncology divisions at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington Medical Center.

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Xia Jie.

Medical entrepreneur Xia Jie, whose company Health 100 owns the largest chain of health clinics in China, plans to open overseas facilities to cater for wealthy clients.

That could result in an investment of about $20 million in a regenerative treatment centre in the resort, making it a Mecca for health tourism and athlete injury rehabilitation.

''We're now negotiating with the local medical teams,'' Mr Xia said yesterday through an interpreter while on a four-day fact-finding mission to Queenstown.

''Health 100 really wants to find beautiful cities around the world to take Chinese patients to and Queenstown is one of them.

''The vision is to bring the very high-end customers to have special treatment which is not carried out elsewhere in the world,'' he said.

Health 100 would invest with existing firms Queenstown Regenerative Medicine (QRM), run by Marcelle Noble, and the Queenstown Skin Institute.

Both have small premises at Remarkables Park in Frankton.

Queenstown Skin Institute director Dr Hans Raetz said Mr Xia had indicated plans for a much larger centre, with sites in Remarkables Park, Jacks Point or the Five Mile development off Frankton Ladies Mile already earmarked.

''The size depends on Mr Xia, but we've been talking between $10 million and $20 million.

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When a child became ill, Jim Pattison was one of many who stepped up as a potential bone marrow donor.

Herald photo by Jodi Schellenberg

Jim Pattison was given two paperweights for his stem cell donation. He decided to become a donor in 1996, but was not a match until after 2010.

In 1996, Pattison was one of many who went on the bone marrow transplant list to help a one and a half year old child who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. The organizers of the donor drive expected maybe 50 people to show up and were shocked by the close to 400 who attended.

Sadly, the family didnt find a match and the girl died, but Pattison decided to stay on the registry.

They asked if I wanted to stay on and my answer was that if I would do it for Abigail I would do it for anybody, he said.

Throughout the years, Pattison was asked to test for more markers to see if he would be a match for someone else. He did his last test in 2010 and heard back a short time later with the news he was a match.

Pattison was chosen for a peripheral stem cell donation, which is different from a bone marrow transplant because it is less invasive.

I first went to where the stem cells are collected and had a physical, he explained. They sent me back with some drugs that I had to have injected here, that stimulate the stem cells to grow. I had four injections before I went.

They were looking to make sure I had a high enough level of stem cells to make the donation, he added.

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