Your small effort will help Klay so much! As the Treatment with StemCell is differentiated by the complexity of the Klay's case, the estimated cost is between US$ 50.000,00 and US$ 70.000,00 (between R$85.000,00 and R$120.000,00 with 1 US Dollar equivalent to R$1,70). This value already contemplates the treatment with stem-cell, round trip flights between Brazil/China, accomodation, feed, etc.
You can donate through those bank accounts:
Millennium BCP Bank (USA)
Checking account: 1010076108
Receiver: Jose Carlos Fernandes
Caixa Econômica Federal (Brazil)
Branch: 3234
Operation: 013
Account: 20000-2
Receiver: Klayanderson Figueiredo
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Klayanderson
We know that life is a journey full of surprises. Some good, some happy and those that arrive full of sadness. Leaving huge scars.
Two of April 2005 was this day in Klay's life. Only 27 days before his birthday. Klay went to supermarket to do some shopping as if were an ordinary day. He bought, talked with a friend and went home.
Arriving home, put the bags with purchases on the table and was going to put it away. His uncle them asked him: Klay put a song for us. He went to the couch, sat down and got a strange look on his face. His uncle asked if he was OK?? Thinking he was upset with something, insisted on the question. Klay answered: I have a very strong headache and everything is turning. My brother called me and ask what he should do!! I told him to give Klay 2 Tylenol and take him to the hospital. He did that, and after ran to call the other brother who lived 2 blocks away for help, as his phone was answered. When he was halfway through his fiancée called and told him to rush back, Klay started to vomit and seemed very ill. They arrived in seconds and took Klay to the hospital.
This headache would forever change Klay's life. He could never put away his shopping.
He arrive in the hospital and the doctors did all the tests, than send him in an urgently to another hospital. He was already in a coma. I rush myself from New York to New Jersey, once in the hospital the doctors came running to ask us to sign a document, they needed to put a drain on Klay's head, even do they were sure Klay wasn't going to survive. His brain was bathed in blood. I was desperate, until that moment I had never dealt with any type of disease. Of course, I new exactly what an AVM, what I could not understand was: WHY KLAY COUD NOT SURVIVE? I called a doctor friend of mine in the most desperate and even unable to speak properly,but found a way to understand me and asked to talk with Klay's doctor. After that the doctor took me to a room and showed me the images of Klay's head, in an attempt to make understand the severity of the case. There was enormous amount of bloodstains all over his brain. Meaning it almost impossible to survive that. I cried without comfort and disbelief.
They called a priest to talk to me. Later they called us to the ICU. Klay was there, completed intubated, on the left was the iv and on the right below the bad was a bag with the blood that was drained from his head. I cannot even explain what I felt…
I believe there aren't words to describe such a pain.
Klay survived the 24 hours, the doctors called us again and said they had an emergency and need to open Klays had because the intra-cranial pressure was so high it was almost boiling. That surgery wasn't to fix anything only to relive the pressure...And more worst of all, they said if Klay would bleed during surgery he would die, and was sure that was going to happen. But unfortunately they had to do it. Surgery would take between 4 and 6 hours. We mourn, we pray, faith was our only hope.
Three hours later there came the doctor saying the impossible had happen and Klay had not bled. I Knew God was listening to our presses and didn't stop praying. Klay came back to the ICU and after a week, here came the doctors again, saying Klay need a tracheotomy and a feed tube. Again Klay wins another battle. Once again came back to the ICU from the operate room. He remains there for the next 4 month in a deep coma.
Doctors expecting him to die… And I, awaiting to take him home. In July Klay opened his eyes and after that doctors decided to do an embolization on him. That means start to glue the malformed veins in his brain. A proceed where they make a cut to the groins and from there doctors bring a glue to the malformed vein in the brain. He passed that one too and was back in the ICU. He remained there for another 2 weeks, than they send him to a less intensive ICU. He was now in partial coma, where the eyes was opened but he wasn't seeing.
November, Klay came out of the coma, early December, doctors decide to do another surgery. Late December, he leaves the hospital to the rehabilitation center and on the discharge papers doctors wrote VEGETABLE.
For them was impossible for Klay to overcome that situation, to much damage on his brain. He stayed until February on that center, and was sent to another facilities where he could stay for a longer time. While there they took him out of the feeding tube and begins to eat soft food by mouth again. In August Klay goes back to the hospital for another surgery, all third trying to fix the malformed veins, so that Klay would have another bleeding.
Thank Good he survives that one to. Soon after that, I received the devastating new: Klay mother has died in Brazil. She was young but as her son, she was struggling to survive while in line for a kidney transplant. His suffering and agony added to her own, lead her into her death.
HOW COULD I GIVE HIM SUCH A NEWS??
Doctors, psychologists, physiotherapists, who worked with him, had a meeting with me and together we decided it seems best to preserve him from such news. He needed to join forces for his only survival, and it could be even more tragic.
After staying for one year and few months at this facility, Klay went home for while, awaiting for one more surgery.
He was doing very well, far from being the vegetable the doctors said he would became. Next surgery was schedule for July 2007. It was so very sad to take him back to a hospital. We got there and he went to the operating room. One hour had past when the doctor calls me to the operation room. My heart was pounding very fast, got there and the doctor showed me Klay head image and pointed to me where the last vein to be fixed was and say the embolization would be to risk, as the vein was to deep inside the brain.
The other choice was to open his head again. I almost had a heart attack, but unfortunately there was no other choices for us but agree with that. They schedule us for September 2007 there we went once again... I consider this one of the most difficult choice I had to make, regard Klay problem. The surgery was very risk as doctors had to go very deep inside his brain. We got there 6 am and Klay went right away into the operation room. They allowed me to be with him until he fall asleep with the anesthesia. I step out and was until 4.30 pm when the doctor came out and told me every went well, but... he was not sure if everything was removed!! And Klay would need to go for test which was almost like a surgery itself. They would make a cut on the groin and introduce a camera from there to his brain.
I only saw Klay at 9 pm leaving the room to the ICU. Thank God, surgery was successful. He did well through the night and next day could recognize me. Unfortunately, after a week in the ICU, Klay developed hydrocephaly and he had to go for another surgery, to place a permanent drain on his had. Back on the ICU he stay for another 4 months. From there, went to rehabilitation center on January. Start the psychotherapy, after a week of doing it they had a meeting with me and said Klay was not responding to the exercises. I felt something was terribly wrong, when eventually I found out he could not hear.
After discovering what was wrong we communicating in a way he could understand, he improved a lot. We did all sort of tests possible, it appears that the hearing system was working but the brain was the problem.
Well with the last surgery Klay its no longer on a risk of bleeding, but lost his hearing on the procedure.
I will not pass to you all the scares in the hospital, the infections, high fevers, because otherwise I wouldn't stop writing.
Klay is considered by the doctors as a miracle! Because he survived and it’s not a vegetable they were sure he would be. Know the treatment with stem cells arrives full of hope... Not a miracle but could help Klay have a better quality of life and, with the grace o God, his hearing could connect and he would be able to hear again. That's why we want to go to China for the treatment.
All this show how big is God loves for us, where there is no hope, he gives one!
Sueli Figueiredo – Klay’s aunt
Two of April 2005 was this day in Klay's life. Only 27 days before his birthday. Klay went to supermarket to do some shopping as if were an ordinary day. He bought, talked with a friend and went home.
Arriving home, put the bags with purchases on the table and was going to put it away. His uncle them asked him: Klay put a song for us. He went to the couch, sat down and got a strange look on his face. His uncle asked if he was OK?? Thinking he was upset with something, insisted on the question. Klay answered: I have a very strong headache and everything is turning. My brother called me and ask what he should do!! I told him to give Klay 2 Tylenol and take him to the hospital. He did that, and after ran to call the other brother who lived 2 blocks away for help, as his phone was answered. When he was halfway through his fiancée called and told him to rush back, Klay started to vomit and seemed very ill. They arrived in seconds and took Klay to the hospital.
This headache would forever change Klay's life. He could never put away his shopping.
He arrive in the hospital and the doctors did all the tests, than send him in an urgently to another hospital. He was already in a coma. I rush myself from New York to New Jersey, once in the hospital the doctors came running to ask us to sign a document, they needed to put a drain on Klay's head, even do they were sure Klay wasn't going to survive. His brain was bathed in blood. I was desperate, until that moment I had never dealt with any type of disease. Of course, I new exactly what an AVM, what I could not understand was: WHY KLAY COUD NOT SURVIVE? I called a doctor friend of mine in the most desperate and even unable to speak properly,but found a way to understand me and asked to talk with Klay's doctor. After that the doctor took me to a room and showed me the images of Klay's head, in an attempt to make understand the severity of the case. There was enormous amount of bloodstains all over his brain. Meaning it almost impossible to survive that. I cried without comfort and disbelief.
They called a priest to talk to me. Later they called us to the ICU. Klay was there, completed intubated, on the left was the iv and on the right below the bad was a bag with the blood that was drained from his head. I cannot even explain what I felt…
I believe there aren't words to describe such a pain.
Klay survived the 24 hours, the doctors called us again and said they had an emergency and need to open Klays had because the intra-cranial pressure was so high it was almost boiling. That surgery wasn't to fix anything only to relive the pressure...And more worst of all, they said if Klay would bleed during surgery he would die, and was sure that was going to happen. But unfortunately they had to do it. Surgery would take between 4 and 6 hours. We mourn, we pray, faith was our only hope.
Three hours later there came the doctor saying the impossible had happen and Klay had not bled. I Knew God was listening to our presses and didn't stop praying. Klay came back to the ICU and after a week, here came the doctors again, saying Klay need a tracheotomy and a feed tube. Again Klay wins another battle. Once again came back to the ICU from the operate room. He remains there for the next 4 month in a deep coma.
Doctors expecting him to die… And I, awaiting to take him home. In July Klay opened his eyes and after that doctors decided to do an embolization on him. That means start to glue the malformed veins in his brain. A proceed where they make a cut to the groins and from there doctors bring a glue to the malformed vein in the brain. He passed that one too and was back in the ICU. He remained there for another 2 weeks, than they send him to a less intensive ICU. He was now in partial coma, where the eyes was opened but he wasn't seeing.
November, Klay came out of the coma, early December, doctors decide to do another surgery. Late December, he leaves the hospital to the rehabilitation center and on the discharge papers doctors wrote VEGETABLE.
For them was impossible for Klay to overcome that situation, to much damage on his brain. He stayed until February on that center, and was sent to another facilities where he could stay for a longer time. While there they took him out of the feeding tube and begins to eat soft food by mouth again. In August Klay goes back to the hospital for another surgery, all third trying to fix the malformed veins, so that Klay would have another bleeding.
Thank Good he survives that one to. Soon after that, I received the devastating new: Klay mother has died in Brazil. She was young but as her son, she was struggling to survive while in line for a kidney transplant. His suffering and agony added to her own, lead her into her death.
HOW COULD I GIVE HIM SUCH A NEWS??
Doctors, psychologists, physiotherapists, who worked with him, had a meeting with me and together we decided it seems best to preserve him from such news. He needed to join forces for his only survival, and it could be even more tragic.
After staying for one year and few months at this facility, Klay went home for while, awaiting for one more surgery.
He was doing very well, far from being the vegetable the doctors said he would became. Next surgery was schedule for July 2007. It was so very sad to take him back to a hospital. We got there and he went to the operating room. One hour had past when the doctor calls me to the operation room. My heart was pounding very fast, got there and the doctor showed me Klay head image and pointed to me where the last vein to be fixed was and say the embolization would be to risk, as the vein was to deep inside the brain.
The other choice was to open his head again. I almost had a heart attack, but unfortunately there was no other choices for us but agree with that. They schedule us for September 2007 there we went once again... I consider this one of the most difficult choice I had to make, regard Klay problem. The surgery was very risk as doctors had to go very deep inside his brain. We got there 6 am and Klay went right away into the operation room. They allowed me to be with him until he fall asleep with the anesthesia. I step out and was until 4.30 pm when the doctor came out and told me every went well, but... he was not sure if everything was removed!! And Klay would need to go for test which was almost like a surgery itself. They would make a cut on the groin and introduce a camera from there to his brain.
I only saw Klay at 9 pm leaving the room to the ICU. Thank God, surgery was successful. He did well through the night and next day could recognize me. Unfortunately, after a week in the ICU, Klay developed hydrocephaly and he had to go for another surgery, to place a permanent drain on his had. Back on the ICU he stay for another 4 months. From there, went to rehabilitation center on January. Start the psychotherapy, after a week of doing it they had a meeting with me and said Klay was not responding to the exercises. I felt something was terribly wrong, when eventually I found out he could not hear.
After discovering what was wrong we communicating in a way he could understand, he improved a lot. We did all sort of tests possible, it appears that the hearing system was working but the brain was the problem.
Well with the last surgery Klay its no longer on a risk of bleeding, but lost his hearing on the procedure.
I will not pass to you all the scares in the hospital, the infections, high fevers, because otherwise I wouldn't stop writing.
Klay is considered by the doctors as a miracle! Because he survived and it’s not a vegetable they were sure he would be. Know the treatment with stem cells arrives full of hope... Not a miracle but could help Klay have a better quality of life and, with the grace o God, his hearing could connect and he would be able to hear again. That's why we want to go to China for the treatment.
All this show how big is God loves for us, where there is no hope, he gives one!
Sueli Figueiredo – Klay’s aunt
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Brasileiros realizam karaokê beneficente para imigrante vítima de AVC
O valadarense Klayanderson Figueiredo, 24 anos, sofreu um Acidente Vascular Cerebral (AVC) nos EUA e será submetido a tratamento alternativo na China
Há aproximadamente quatro anos, a imensa vontade de viver do imigrante Klayanderson Figueiredo, 26 anos, solteiro, natural de Governador Valadares, interior de Minas Gerais, vem surpreendendo médicos e familiares. Quando chegou aos Estados Unidos há 8 anos atrás, ele trabalhava (...) em Manhattan – NY, até que um Acidente Vascular Cerebral (AVC) interrompeu bruscamente sua luta pelo Sonho Americano, explicou Januário Figueiredo, tio do jovem, residente em Newark - NJ.
“Ele sobreviveu a um AVC hemorrágico e é considerado pelos médicos um verdadeiro milagre; principalmente devido à grande quantidade de sangue que se espalhou em quase todo o cérebro dele”, disse Sueli Figueiredo, tia de Klay.
Até o momento, Klay já foi submetido a três cirurgias no crânio e utilização de tubos, via garganta, para sanar áreas afetadas no cérebro pelo AVC.
“Depois de quase um ano em coma e, com o diagnóstico imediato de morte, os médicos ainda previam que ele seria um ‘vegetal’. Bom, Deus foi maravilhoso e ele está em uma cadeira de rodas, mas não tem nada de vegetal”, acrescentou ela.
A lesão cerebral comprometeu a locomoção, audição e fala do jovem, que passa a maior parte do tempo em uma cadeira de rodas, entretanto, a esperança na melhora de seu estado de saúde encontra-se na China, onde ele será submetido a um tratamento de vanguarda com células-tronco. Mas tão desafiante quanto os obstáculos enfrentados diariamente por Klay, é o valor total do tratamento: entre US$ 50 mil e US$ 70 mil.
Em virtude disso, amigos e parentes organizarão no próximo 3 de outubro, sábado, a partir das 8 horas da noite, um karaokê beneficente em prol de Klay Anderson Figueiredo. O evento terá lugar no Bar & Restaurante Toda Nossa, localizado na 4404 Broadway, em Astória, Queens – NY. Os ingressos custam US$ 10 e o 1º chopp é gratuito. A verba arrecadada será destinada ao tratamento com células-tronco do jovem brasileiro na China.
Confiante, Januário citou à equipe de reportagem do BV o caso de duas crianças brasileiras, com problemas diferentes, que se submeteram ao mesmo tratamento na China e tiveram recuperações impressionantes. Atualmente, seu sobrinho não pode locomover-se e utiliza sonda urinária ou fralda geriátrica.
Informações e ingressos podem ser adquiridos através do tel.: (973) 517-7595, falar com Januário, ou (347) 351-8303, falar com Sueli.
Legenda:
Foto: A verba arrecadada durante o karaokê beneficente será destinada ao tratamento com células-tronco do mineiro Klayanderson Figueiredo na China.
Leonardo Ferreira
Editor Journalist
T: 1 973-491-6200
F: 1 973-491-6287
Email: news@brazilianvoice.com
Site: www.brazilianvoice.com
Contacts
If you want to talk to us:
Sueli, Klay's aunt
e-mail: figueiredosu@hotmail.com
phone: +1 (347) 351-8303
Sueli, Klay's aunt
e-mail: figueiredosu@hotmail.com
phone: +1 (347) 351-8303
Friday, October 2, 2009
Improvements stem from cell therapy
Source: Cairns.com.au
Plenty to smile about: Rosanne de Gregorio (left) with Corey and dad Mark are pleased with the results of the stem cell therapy.Picture: CHRIS HYDE
EXPERIMENTAL stem cell therapy in China has allowed a three-year-old Gordonvale toddler with cerebral palsy to improve so much that he has been able to drink out of a cup unassisted for the first time.Corey de Gregorio's parents Mark and Rosanne have been on crusade to find a cure for their son since he was diagnosed with the incurable condition when he was eight months old.
Corey had six cord blood stem cell treatments, which could potentially help in treating a range of childhood leukemia, cerebral palsy as well as Alzehimer's disease, in a five-week stay in Qingdao last year.
More than six months after his treatments, Mr de Gregorio said the family was amazed at the improvements in his torso and his left arm.
"The usability of his left hand has improved immensely since we've been to China," Mr de Gregorio said.
"He can hold a cup and drink from it with his two hands and because prior to that it was extremely difficult."
Mrs de Gregorio had her doubts before her husband and Corey left for China but she said she wanted Corey to have every possible chance in becoming an independent individual.
"Like any parent, you want to do the best you possibly can with your child and at the end of the day you want to know that you’ve done and that you’ve tried everything," the mother-of-three said.
"Even if that means going offshore and trying something experimental.
"Since then we've stored our youngest daughter Bella's umbilical cord because when Corey was born we didn't realise how valuable his cord blood is."
She said she was "over the moon" Corey was experiencing his developmental milestones.
A group of 10 Cairns women, who are competing in the The Great Wheelbarrow Race, want to raise $10,000 to buy a motorised wheelchair for Corey before he starts pre-school and also to establish a local Cerebral Palsy group.
The women, who will push a wheelbarrow 150km from Mareeba to Chillagoe next month, is running the Wheelie Huge Wheelbarrow Raffle and to buy a $5 ticket call Helen Cook on 0439 878 070.
Stem cell treatment: Let there be sight
If seeing is believing, Elmwood Park residents Heather Pelletier and her 8-year-old daughter, Hayley, qualify as stem cells' most fervent converts. The stem cell treatments Hayley had are controversial. But the success she experienced is hard to discount.
Hayley had been legally blind since birth, afflicted with optic nerve hypoplasia, or ONH, a leading cause of blindness in children. Her optic nerves, which transmit visual signals from her eyes to her brain, were underdeveloped. She could see only light with her left eye, not much more with her right -- objects at 20 feet that a child with normal vision can see at 2,200 feet.
Last fall, Hayley, then a first-grader at Salt Creek Primary School in Elmhurst, was learning to walk with a cane and to read Braille. Doctors told Peletier no medications or treatments were available for her daughter's condition. Then, in August, Pelletier stumbled onto the Web site for the Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard University.
"They confirmed they were having some success treating blind mice with stem cells," Pelletier said. "But blind mice? I wanted to hear about success with blind people."
Pelletier learned of Bieke Biotechnology, a company that acts as a sort of stem cell matchmaker, connecting patients worldwide with hospitals in China and elsewhere doing pioneering work with stem cells for patients with a variety of medical conditions, including Hayley's.
It took six weeks for Pelletier to shepherd Hayley through the doctors, MRIs, tests and blood work that would prove to Bieke she was healthy enough to benefit from stem cell treatments.
"Actually, I thought all of the required tests were sort of comforting," she said. "They reassured me Bieke is cautious."
On Nov. 19, Pelletier and Hayley traveled to Xiaoshan Hospital in Hangzhou, China. Pelletier second-guessed herself all of the way. Was she doing the right thing for her daughter? Would stem cells help? Could she justify the cost -- $20,000 for the treatments, more for travel and living expenses?
Police in Norridge, where Pelletier is a 911 dispatcher, held raffles and raised funds to help. Residents of Norridge, Elmwood Park and Chicago's Northwest Side pitched in, and the Elmwood Park Lions Club agreed to contribute. A former Norridge resident burned copies of the holiday CD she'd recorded, sold them for $5 each and donated all of the proceeds to Hayley's cause. Together, they've covered almost the entire bill.
During their six weeks in China, Hayley had seven treatments with stem cells extracted from umbilical cords after healthy births, considered a medical waste product -- not the more controversial stem cells harvested from embryos.
Pelletier kept family members, friends and co-workers updated by writing Hayley's blog for the Bieke Web site. After just two treatments, Hayley could count Heather's fingers at a 3-foot distance and read their 8-inch room number from 4 feet away. After three treatments, she could see colored rectangles on her mother's laptop screen from a distance of about 3 feet.
A week later, Hayley tied their room's duvet cover into bows. She had never been able to tie shoelaces before, because she couldn't see her hands.
"I've never seen her so proud of herself." Pelletier wrote. "She has been tying my gym shoes all day."
Between treatments, Hayley worked with therapists, printing letters and numbers on a scratch board. After five lumbar treatments, Hayley was able to read the word outlet on the wall of a nearby shopping center and the letters O-T-H-K on her mother's shopping bag.
They flew home a few days before Christmas. Doctors in China believe Hayley's vision may continue to improve for as many as nine months after her treatments were finished. She's learning to print at school, where she is now in second grade.
She's drawing pictures of people on paper. She can identify colors with ease. She can see street lamps in broad daylight and watch television from a 3-foot distance.
"It's been incredible," Pelletier said. "Basically, her whole quality of life was just bumped up 110 percent. She's so much happier."
Her self confidence has soared, too. Pelletier managed to say a few words at a Lions Club banquet, but she admits she was intimidated by the hundreds of people in the room. Hayley wasn't.
"I brought a different child home from China. She stood on a chair and told them all about her experiences there," said Pelletier, astonished. "Then she thanked them for honoring her with their support."
Hayley's ONH blog appears on the Bieke Web site -- www.stemcellschina.com -- along with the stories of other patients being treated with stem cells with varying degrees of success for a wide range of problems, from cerebral palsy to spinal injury to autism.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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