Glimmers of Hope
One of the goals of
ALS WORLDWIDE is to provide the most current
information, research and available opportunities in a
timely fashion, a challenge for an operation as small as
ours. Your financial support and those of so many
others, is essential as we continue to expand, with the
expectation that one or more glimmers of hope can expand
into the elusive cure. Become an ALSWW supporter by
contributing today. Encourage others in your community
to join the efforts of
ALS
WORLDWIDE through their donations and readership as
well. Thank you.
On September
21-23, the World Stem Cell Summit takes place at the
Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.
Presented by the Genetics Policy Institute (GPI) and hosted
by Johns Hopkins University, the University System of
Maryland and the State of Maryland, the 5th annual Summit is
the single event that brings the stem cell universe together
to foster collaborations and provide a holistic
understanding of this burgeoning field. More than 20
representatives from the National Institute of health will
be there to provide up-to-date information on policy.
Global leaders in the field will be assembled, discussing
many of the hot topics, from Regenerative Medicine for
Wounded Solders to Medical Tourism, Diabetes, Parkinson's,
spinal cord injuries, cancer and, most especially for all of
us, ALS.
To help facilitate your attendance,
ALSWW requested that GPI offers those with ALS a very
special rate of $295 for attendees instead of the usual
$1000. Caregivers accompanying patients can attend
free. If you decide to attend the Tuesday evening
banquet, an additional charge of $100 for each person must
be added to the registration fee. Payments can be made
at the time of arrival, but registration must be done
beforehand. Steve Byer will be there and will be happy
to meet with all ALS attendees. Just email
Steve to let him know you'll be there. Don't miss
this incredible opportunity to learn the most current
information about stem cell therapy first hand from the
foremost experts in the world.
Debbie
Gattoni, one of the first international research subjects to
receive the stem cell protocol in Monterrey, has written an
insightful, entertaining and informative article about her
experience.
"My
husband Bill and I, together with our two teenage sons, left
home at 5:30 AM on Friday, July 31. A 3 hour layover
in Houston placed our arrival in Monterrey, Mexico at 11AM,
CST. Situated in the Sierra Madre Mountains, Monterrey is
the third largest city in Mexico, a 3 hour drive southeast
of Laredo, TX. Although the daily temperature hovered
at 105 degrees, humidity makes our home base of New Jersey
feel a lot hotter.
This
heavily industrial city is complemented with numerous art
museums and cultural amenities. The only thing lacking
as far as we could tell, are adequate road maps. None
of our GPS systems worked there and the AAA map and Hertz
did not have really detailed street maps of the city.
So, after stopping for a quick lunch, it took us almost 3
hours to find our hotel, which is only 17 miles from the
airport. We did ask directions; some people didn't
speak English; others were unfamiliar with the financial
district where the Quinta Real Hotel was located. By the
time we arrived there, Bill had become an expert at
'Retorno'. Needless to say, we had quite a few laughs,
some so hard we were crying. Our destination, arranged for
us by Tec de Monterrey and ALS WORLDWIDE, proved to be an
old world, beautiful and comfortable hotel, well worth the 3
hour drive to find it. You will be happy to know that by
the time we left ten days later, it only took us 25 minutes
to get back to the airport from our hotel. Almost
natives! . . . ."
Read Debbie's informative
Monterrey
Journal in its entirety on
In The Spotlighton this website.
"Intrathecal
Cyclosporin is one of the new protocols being developed for
the treatment of ALS that I referred to in our last
newsletter. While only in Phase 2 (dosage/efficacy), having
succeeded in Phase 1 (safety), the intrathecal usage of
Cyclosporin is, in my opinion, one of the leading
opportunities to have come to the forefront in the past
several years. Whereas Cyclosporin has been considered for
ALS since the early 1980's and was trialed by Dr Stanley
Appel in 1988 as an oral medication, it is only since its
use as an intrathecally-delivered medication (injected into
the spinal cord) that its promise seems more relevant. I
intend to meet with Maas Biolab in December at their
facility in Albuquerque to gain more information, having
first become interested in their approach to Cyclosporin A
through intrathecal injection (Mitogard) when meeting with
them at the MNDA Symposium in Toronto in November 2007."
We hope you
find this information useful and that you visit
ALS WORLDWIDE frequently.
Barb and Steve Byer
September 7, 2009
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