• "The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time"
  
  - Abraham Lincoln

Posted: March 19th, 2013

There is often a disconnect between the urgency one feels in working to find cures for fatal and incurable diseases, and the realistic time frames required for even the best cutting edge science to move from bench to bedside. Stem cell science presents us with such disconnects. It is clear to all involved that yet more urgency and more speed are needed. Yet by traditional standards we are still early in the clinical process, even as we put all of our resources into attempts to accelerate the process. There is however, an area of stem cell science where therapeutic intervention is possible today. In a bit of a departure for this space, I would like to draw your attention to the battle against Leukemia and various blood cancers through the fight for survival of two inspirational patients.

The first is a young girl, Hailey Kennedy. I attended a small fundraiser for Hailey at William Debilzan Art Gallery (kudos to Til We Meet Again Charities for organizing the event). You can go to Hailey’s CaringBridge site and read more, and hopefully donate to the cause. Hailey was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and is currently getting chemotherapy and blood transfusions. There are many “adult” stem cell companies involved in transformative technologies that may soon allow for expansion and possibly enhancement of bone marrow cells and platelets and all manner of blood stem cell technologies. Hailey and those like her are a generation on the cusp of patients for whom such cancers will prove to be a chronic, but managed condition. We aren’t there yet, but we are very close. The numbers are larger than one would think. Every four minutes someone is diagnosed with some form of blood cancer.

The second patient I write about today is very different. A soldier who has served his country through three wars and is currently the third longest serving soldier in the history of the United States; he is a doctor whose patients knew from the moment they entered his care that they were fortunate indeed. Colonel Hector Henry also suffers from blood cancer, and is now in need of a marrow transplant. Matches are very hard to find and the numbers can be disheartening. Four out of ten patients who require a marrow transplant do not have a matching donor; and in fact less than two percent of the general population is in the donor register. I should mention here that all that is required to test is a cheek swab; and if you are a match, the donation process is much like donating blood. You can (and I hope do) learn more by going to deletebloodcancer.org and finding a donor drive swab site near you, or just ask on the site and they will send you a kit in the mail.

Again, these marrow transplantations are lifesaving miracles that stem cells can perform today, now. What is needed for these patients is not new science, but new donors. Stem cells hold enormous promise for treatment of many incurable diseases, and we are all frustrated with the pace of advancement. In the midst of that frustration sometimes we lose sight of the fact that there are diseases that can be treated right now with stem cell technology. And no matter who you are, you can probably help. As President Lincoln so aptly put it, the future comes one day at a time. That gives all of us time to make a difference. Please log on to one or both of these sites and help.