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.
