Leo
09-25-2004, 01:59 PM
Hope for sick dad who wants to cuddle sons
A FATHER-of-two with a muscle wasting disease is to travel to China for experimental treatment - which could give him the strength to pick up and cuddle his young sons for the first time.
John Bell from Rectory Gardens, Killamarsh, near Sheffield, hopes to be the first person from Britain to undergo the pioneering treatment.
It is hoped it could halt the progress of his Motor Neurone Disease or even restore movement to his arms and upper body which was lost after his muscles deteriorated.
The 30-year-old is currently being treated for the incurable condition at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital, but has now put himself forward for experimental treatment in Beijing.
His wife Charlotte, 29, said: "John is excited about the treatment. We have done our research and we feel it is the right thing to do.
"The disease has progressed and this could help to stop it, or even reverse some of the effects. We have looked at other treatments and this is the first one that has given us hope."
John and Charlotte, who have two young sons, Samuel, aged two-and-a-half, and Gabriel, six months, say the controversial treatment - involving injections of cells taken from aborted foetuses - is their best hope of improving John's quality of life.
source (http://www.sheffieldtoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=58&ArticleID=861117)
"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you."
Gandolf the Gray
A FATHER-of-two with a muscle wasting disease is to travel to China for experimental treatment - which could give him the strength to pick up and cuddle his young sons for the first time.
John Bell from Rectory Gardens, Killamarsh, near Sheffield, hopes to be the first person from Britain to undergo the pioneering treatment.
It is hoped it could halt the progress of his Motor Neurone Disease or even restore movement to his arms and upper body which was lost after his muscles deteriorated.
The 30-year-old is currently being treated for the incurable condition at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital, but has now put himself forward for experimental treatment in Beijing.
His wife Charlotte, 29, said: "John is excited about the treatment. We have done our research and we feel it is the right thing to do.
"The disease has progressed and this could help to stop it, or even reverse some of the effects. We have looked at other treatments and this is the first one that has given us hope."
John and Charlotte, who have two young sons, Samuel, aged two-and-a-half, and Gabriel, six months, say the controversial treatment - involving injections of cells taken from aborted foetuses - is their best hope of improving John's quality of life.
source (http://www.sheffieldtoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=58&ArticleID=861117)
"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you."
Gandolf the Gray