NeuroGen Brain & Spine Institute use stem cell therapy to treat two cases of Paraplegia and Quadriplegia

NeuroGen helps Virali Modi and Hutaib Adib to come back to life and stand on their own feet

Rehabilitation of the spinal cord injured individuals is far one of the most challenging fields for the rehabilitation experts. Till today, there is very little to claim as a panacea for the spinal cord injury or regeneration of the damaged spinal cord. However the researchers all over the world find great hope in stem cell therapy (SCT) and it has been shown that SCT accelerates Rehabilitation’s role to bring independence in spinal cord injury patients. Hence SCT when coupled with extensive rehabilitation gives better results than only physiotherapy. This above statement can be best explained with two such medical cases of Paraplegia and Quadriplegia.

Dr Alok Sharma Professor & Head of Neurosurgery, LTMG Hospital & LTM Medical College, Sion Mumbai and Director NeuroGen Brain & Spine Institute informs, “Spinal Cord Injury affects the person’s functional independence and has a major impact on quality of life, sense of self worth and consequential social participation. Whilst it is generally expected that the degree of functional independence achievable is dependent on a person’s spinal cord injury level, a person’s neurological level should not be viewed as strictly predictive but rather as indicative of potential function.”

Spinal Cord injury affects 25 out of every 10 lakh people. The consequences of spinal cord injury, whether it is paraplegia or quadriplegia, are severe and crippling. After a spinal cord injury, a person’s sensory, motor and reflex messages are affected and may not be able to get past the damage in the spinal cord. In general, the higher on the spinal cord the injury occurs, the more dysfunction the person will experience.

Dr Nandini Gokulchandran, Deputy Director and Head Medical Services, NeuroGen Brain and Spine Institute said,“It has been a long standing belief that patients with paraplegia and quadriplegia following spinal cord injury will remain wheelchair bound or bedridden for the rest of their lives. The medical community has always felt devoid of a tool to make these patients walk again. But, now with the emerging era of stem cell therapy we can make a difference in the quality of life of these patients and help them get back to their feet once again.”

Hutaib Adib, a 28 year old paraplegia patient underwent Stem cell therapy on September 29, 2014 and since then he is on his way in the improvement ladder. Now the speed lover has gained speed in his fight against dependency. Since then every week he can see/feel some or the other improvements. His passion for cooking and baking made him launch Hutaib’s Chocolate which is already doing extremely well.

The second patient case is also extremely interesting and motivating. This is the story of a young 23 year old American Indian girl Virali Modi who was declared clinically dead thrice in US. She is a known case of Transverse Mellitus. Starting with simple cold, cough and high fever, Virali Modi lost her entire sensation, mobility, everything. The sufferings of her health started in 2006 and during the four years time frame, she went into Coma, was declared clinically dead thrice and not just that doctors had planned to disconnect the ventilators as well.

Dr Sharma finally diagnosed Virali as suffering from chronic Transverse Myelitis. She underwent the first stem cell therapy in 2010. After the stem cell therapy, she gained back all the sensations, some mobility and strength in muscles. Her upper body improved tremendously. After experiencing sustained improvements she underwent second time Stem Cell Therapy in 2013. This time she started walking with calipers and support, gained more strength, became totally independent in terms of everyday living activities and could travel alone on wheelchair.

This boosted her self confidence and so she took first step towards making a bright career. She was a content writer at a leading Social Awareness blog. Along with this she went for many photo shoots for various awareness campaigns.

The full of life wheelchair bound young girl was crowned MISS WHEELCHAIR INDIA – 1^st runner up for the year 2014. The desire to become fully mobile, to dance, to travel etc made Virali to undergo Stem Cell Therapy for the third time in 2014. ‘’After the third stem cell therapy, I can comfortably walk with a walker, climb stairs, I feel more strength in my lower body, upper body is completely normal, I have gained bowel and bladder control, I go to gym for 2-3hours everyday’’ says Virali.

Virali is very passionate about writing, modeling and acting. Currently she is a lead content writer in an online lifestyle website. Along with this she does a lot of modeling photo shoots and has given auditions for upcoming commercial movies.

Dr Sharma further said, “At NeuroGen, the patients are not only given stem cell therapy but also put on an extensive rehabilitation program following stem cell therapy and are taught bed mobility techniques like rolling, getting up from lying down position as well as transfer techniques like transfer from bed to wheel chair and vice versa, wheelchair to car and so on.”

Dr Gokulchandran added, ‘’ Stem Cell Therapy done at NeuroGen Brain and Spine Institute is a very simple and safe procedure. Stem are taken from patient’s own bone marrow with the help of one needle and are injected back in their Spinal Fluid after processing. Since they are taken from the patient’s own body there is no rejection, no side effects, hence making SCT a completely safe procedure.’’