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Bride a medical miracle

Provided by: Sun Media
Written by: THANE BURNETT -- Toronto Sun
Dec. 24, 2006

Woman suffering from MS found stem cell cure in Canada -- and walked down the aisle

SHENZHEN, China -- Ailing Jennifer Molson didn't have to fly all the way here for a medical wonder.

She found her hope -- and a future that included a wedding -- at home in Canada.

It's something Erica and Shannon Deering weren't willing to sit back and wait for.

The Deering sisters came to this city, an hour away from Hong Kong, because they couldn't get the stem cell procedures in North America. Doors and options were closed to them.

But that doesn't mean Canada is not taking the amazing promise of the tiny life builders -- stem cells -- for granted. In fact, it's Alberta-born biophysicist James Till and Toronto physician Ernest McCulloch who are considered the fathers of the science. The men first charted the existence of stem cells four decades ago.

Since then, Canadian researchers have compiled many of the key papers on the biological wonders.

In fact, there's a new national urgency to map out this amazing medical revolution -- attracting some of the top minds in the world to Canada.

At this moment, in labs from coast to coast, trials and experiments are under way to scientifically and methodically determine what power the different stem cells hold and how they can best be used.

It runs from stroke research in Calgary to trying to win the battle over Parkinson's Disease in Halifax. In Toronto, neurosurgeon Charles Tator -- who tested the Deering sisters before their trip here and will retest them when they finish their five stem cell infusions -- found that transplanted stem cells can grow into adult-like spinal cord cells in rodents.

Living proof

But the Canadian research has not just been limited to lab mice.

One of its most profound, living examples can be found in a recently married Ottawa human resources clerk.

Jennifer Molson is a living example of the wonders of stem cells.

She is one of 14 Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients to take part in stem cell transplants -- first culled from their own blood -- under the watch of Dr. Harry Atkins.

He and neurologist Dr. Mark Freedman have come up with a way to collect stem cells from MS patients, who then undergo extensive chemotherapy. Their immune systems are destroyed -- right before their purified stem cells are infused back into them.

While one of the 14 died as a result of the chemotherapy, the remaining dozen -- including Jennifer who was number six -- have returned to normal lives.

Diagnosed with MS at age 21, by the time she was 27 she had accepted the idea life for her would mean a wheelchair.

Thanks to the remarkable work of Atkins and Freedman, she -- a year after the procedure -- got married.

"I walked down the aisle and danced," she said recently from her office at BAE Systems.

Gone are almost all of the reminders of her MS -- a disease where the immune system ravages the brain and spinal cord.

Except she still has a tub bar and shower chair.

They are now used to hang wet clothes.

"I've had to educate people -- when they think of stem cells they think of embryonic stem cells," she explained. "I used my own."

After her procedure, she saw her disease work in reverse. Almost each new day brought back an ability she had lost.

Ignored her cane

From not being able to walk, suddenly she was without her leg braces. Then she ignored her cane while walking out the door.

At 31 years old she seems free of MS. She considers herself cured of it.

And she believes, very soon, her hope will be available to everyone -- and not just those very few taking part in an experiment in Canada or those who can afford a plane ticket to China.

"I think this hope is for everyone," she said. "It's just taking time to realize its full potential."

-- Burnett

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