I am thinking about going to the Dominican Republic for stem cell treatment.
This is the same treatment Ricci Kilgore received. Go to the web you can look up information.
One difference, she was incomplete, I am complete. Medra has accepted my applilcation
But for 30K who wouldn't.
I was very lucky I carried Accidental Death and Dismemberment on my life insurance, so I received a small sum of money.
At this point in my life I don't have anything left to lose.
Anyone else had this stem cell treatment? Know anyone that has? Worked? No?
I have always been one to follow my heart. Made some bad choices and bad decisions, but I never regreted following my heart, because I lived my life to the fullest. I seldom let my brain get in the way. I am getting alot of negative response from doctors, telling me not to do it. Even family members telling me not to do it. But once again I feel the need to follow my heart.

Anyone? Any thoughts?

1heart4u

Save your money, hon, if it were legit you would have heard about it here.

OR in the newspapers, cause it would be the FIRST.

But, hey, it's your money,,,,,if you want to run it through a paper shredder it's nobodies buisness but your own.

I hope you at least get a beach front room for your thirty large.
ed

Hi 1heart4u,

I also gave a quick thought of going outside the US for surgery. My husband asked me to consider the consequences. Can I be in worse condition after and what would this do to him, my caregiver. I will have to wait for something more convincing and proven.

Carole

Hey 1heart4u-

You and I are in the same boat right now. I have a friend who has contacted Ricci and she is trying to find out as much as possible about it. I would say if you feel that this is something that you should try then do it. A lot of people have told me not to trust him, the doctor, because they don't like the fact that he is using fetal stem cells. They really don't know anything about the doctor himself its just what he is using. Did you go on his website? Did you see all the people that this did work for? I'm just going by all the people he has helped and all of the children he has helped. I would just say, if you have all the info that you need from him and the center AND you have the resources, why not give it a shot?

I"d think about spending that cash for rehab equipment. Of all the testimonies I've read about people getting stem cell tx, the only ones that make improvement are the ones doing intensive rehab. And they are maybe seeing 10-20% improvement. I've made that kind of progress with just intensive rehab, PT/OT. But of course that means you'll have to bust your ass. There is no miracle.

My $.02

Hurb

2 words...snake oil..............

Iheart4u,

I don't know if you have been on this board and have read many of the posts regarding surgical procedures out of the US (India, China, Portugal, etc). I'd be confident to say that almost 95% of people including myself would advise you NOT to go ahead with the surgery.

I'm just confused as to why you would post this thread. You said it yourself that you would rather listen to what your heart tells you regardless of suggestions and advises from your doctors and family. If any of us told you not to do the surgery, would that sway your decision? If that's the case, I really hope you don't go through with this especially for 30 grand.

I don't want to discourage you and take away your hope of a cure. I'm 22 and before my injury, most of my goals involved or started with me commissioning as an officer with the US Marine Corps and serving duty. Though my plans for now have changed, there are still some dreams I refuse to give up.

But don't waste 30 grand on some gimmick. If you have that money, donate it to an honorable research foundation. That would be helping yourself AND everyone with a SCI.

use it for your own needs, because your gonna need.........simple as that.....

Yong,
I am following my heart. That is why I posted this thread. Perhaps I needed affirmation from others sitting in my shoes, (chair). After deliberation and reading the responses, I realized that if something really was working there would be many many more receiving the treatment and many many more with successful results, and many more posts telling us all that some treatment has worked. But it seems to be only a few isolated cases. I follow the Care Cure Forum also, and it seems Wise Young is quite the guru regarding SCI. I am sure that if there was a cure,or a treatment with proven results, we would all know about it. Our moderator for this site, Apparalyzed is also following the research and treatments,.
However, like, cancer, I don't know that there is any real cure, but I do know there are treatments that are helping many cancer patients. So ....... perhaps the treatment with stem cells could help?
Perhaps 30K may be better spent on research.
Thanks.
1heart4u

Hello Everyone, i would like to update you with information I have found about Medra. It comes too late for heart but not for anyone else that could be scammed.

It is a scam. They are lying on the website.


Ricci the youtube and self magazine star has always been on my list because if you have any knowledge of SCI's, you would know that a lower back incomplete injury would not be a miracle if they walked. In the Medra infomercial Ricci states "I wasnt offered a whole lot of umm therapy because they didn't have a lot of hope" . Liar, you would have to be in war torn Afghanistan to have a doctor not offer you therapy.

Note the video has been removed after we exposed her as the liar that she is. She sent hundreds of people to William C Rader in the Dominican Republic the stem cell fraud, based upon her false testimony.

This information from an archived vaultworld newsletter confirms what I knew in my heart to be true:



http://www.vaultworld.com/vaultngus/N_News..._2000/05-45.txt

SURGERY SUCCESSFUL FOR RICCI KILGORE, ISU TRACK ATHLETE
INVOLVED IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENT:

Feeling Restored Throughout Her Legs - Medical Team Says
She'll Walk Again

Prior to the surgery,
Kilgore had feeling to her knees, but not below. After the
surgery, Kilgore's mother, Val, reported that her daughter
had feeling throughout her leg once again. Kilgore herself
was still under the influence of the medication used in the
operation, and could not be reached for comment

WOW the year of her accident she had felling in her legs. Fraud.

More links to articles

http://pioneer.olivesoftware.com/Repositor...ish-skin-custom

http://pioneer.olivesoftware.com/Repositor...ish-skin-custom

http://pioneer.olivesoftware.com/Repositor...ish-skin-custom




Ricci Kilgore and Rader must have crafted this fraud and her the paralympian athlete status , Self magazine 8 page layout , testifying before Texas state capital , legitimized her.

SHE REPEATS OVER AND OVER IN ALL THESE FORUMS "THE DOCTORS TOLD ME I WOULD NEVER WALK.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Brian's Miracle aka Jake Brower is a twisted manipulation of facts.

www.medra.com/brian.html

According to the archived Steenblock newslatter Jake's progress was during his treatment by their clinic. Please note the same pictures from Medra are in the Steenblock newsletter.

http://web.archive.org/web/20061111063401/...EP-OCT-2006.pdf


WOW. According to Medra when Brian aka Jake was treated by doctor Rader later in 2006, this was his medical condition :

Brian slowly began to improve into what is called “a minimally responsive / semi-vegetative state” breathing through a tracheotomy and being fed liquids through a "G-Tube" placed in his stomach. Although he was improving, eventually Brian was left blind, unable to speak, could only minimally move only his right side and appeared to be extremely cognitively impaired.

This continued for three years until I found Dr. Rader who agreed to treat Brian with the Fetal Stem Cells.

WOW Steenblocks newsletter clearly shows that is a outright lie.

John Brower, Jakes father is patient relations over at Medra and the wife works sales.
He travels around getting free press for Rader by attending legitimate stem cell summits etc.


http://www.madison.com/tct/news/306200

A very well scripted con.


Even Rader's first miracle child, Clayton Fatherlee, the seizing child with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, has shady undertones.. Claytons parents are Azita Karimkhany Fatheree and George C Fatheree. In this article Azita talks of how she stored her son's cord blood. Why would they take their son to Rader for so called fetal stem cells, instead of using his own cord blood. Clayton starting have seizures on mid 2002 and does not appear on the Medra wbsite until Nov 24th, 2005, over three years since the fisrt occurance. Was he cured miraculously by William Rader. Remember Lennox Gastaut is a roller coaster ride with periods where the child is seizure free. If the pattern hold true, the facts are all a maniputation of time and recovery minus alternative treatments that may have taken place in the three years.

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2001/12/48957

Felicia Gallo, Wyatts dad are also sales reps. When you call Medra you get passed around to the same few people.

The whole thing is a scam. I actually thought these people wrongly believed Rader helped their kids.
They are a well scripted group of con artists. It breaks my heart the money they have manipulated out of people.

Not to mention the the bad name false clinics like Medra give to the legitimate researchers and doctors.

hi,

this might be of interest to you.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kmltm

its a documentary about this issue. i wouldn't want to give that doc any cash, but you have probably heard that enough.

anyway, laters,
ad

heart,
See, here's the problem- looking in the wrong places. There are several other threads about SCI surgeries, and several posts mentioning the Dom. Rep. scam. Look through the other threads on this section. You will find tons of information. I am saving money to go to either Lisbon, Portugal, or to Russia for surgery (pending my decision on which one to do). They are legitimate treatment centers. Now, I'm not saying they're miracle workers. You're not gonna walk outta there right after surgery, and you may never walk again, but there's lots of other quality-of-life improvements that can come from the proper procedures. I've seen the results of the adult autologous cell transplantation, and I gotta tell you- the improvements in sensation and bladder/bowel/sexual function (over a few months post-op) are enough to make the money worth spending. Check out the RSCI (Repair Stem Cell Institute). Google Dr. Carlos Lima. Those places are actually making progress, unlike the Dom Rep scam. Personally, I'm rather anxious to get a bit of function back. I don't really care about the walking bit (I think it's overrated really.), I just want one thing to work like it did before. I'd settle for working at all right now though. Best wishes.

I've BEEN to the DR, and I found it one of the poorest of third world countries I've ever visited.

I couldn't even get a descent meal there most of the time, and I traveled from the Southern part all the way to the North, then back around. This is, quite honesly, the FIRST I've ever heard of a stem cell center in this small, time warped, very small Country. I would defer anyone looking to take a vacation there on a limited income, let alone spending a small fortune there on some unknown internet facts.

*Another note. . . . there were many scams going on down there directed toward the tourists:

Selling fake Cuban Cigars
Selling fake silver
Fake money exchangers on the street

I recommend using your money on a nice world trip instead.