REASON FOR TREATMENT: Thea is a bright and energetic 6 year old. Unfortunately she suffers from a particularly disabilitating form of epilepsy which has meant she has had to suffer hundreds of small seizures per day. These seizures have left her brain damaged. In order to try to repair some of the damage done to her brain, Thea's parents decided to bring her to China for stem cell treatment.

DIAGNOSIS: Epilepsy

BEGINNING OF TREATMENT: 8th of May 2008

TREATMENT: 4 stem cell injections via lumbar puncture + nutritious stem cell cocktail treatment (intravenous).

CONDITION BEFORE THE TREATMENT:

The most obvious sign of Thea's brain damage was her inability to communicate. She could only form words partially and would mumble or make sounds when trying to communicate. She would also point and nod or shake her head. Although her parents had learnt to understand her, it was difficult for other people or hospital staff to understand what she was trying to say.
Her constant seizures also meant that she had to take a lot of medication and that her line of thought would constantly be interrupted, making it difficult for her to focus. She was not able to use numbers well.
Thea was able to run and play, like other children, but her daily routines were constantly interrupted by medication and seizures.

AFTER THE TREATMENT:
See Videos: condition before treatment, condition after treatment

During Thea's stay in China, she became more vocal. She tried to put words together into a sentence and she was able to say "thank you very much" instead of just "thank you". She even learnt a few words of Chinese while she was here. Thea seemed to be able to focus more on what people were saying and pay attention to her surroundings. Her attention seemed, in other words, to be sharper and she was able to communicate better with the other patients and the hospital staff.
Thea's parents know that bigger improvements will not be seen until around three to six months after treatment but they remain hopeful that Thea will develop faster than she has done before and that her condition will continue to improve.