New Windpipe From Patient’s Own Stem Cells

When Hannah Warren was born without a trachea, or windpipe, doctors put in a temporary tube, but told her parents she would likely die. But a new treatment could make a plastic scaffold of a new trachea for and fill it in with stem cells from Hannah’s bone marrow. Her parents couldn’t afford the surgery, so Saint Francis Medical Center, a Catholic hospital in Peoria, Illinois, waved the entire cost. The hospital opposes using embryonic stem cells because human embryos are killed in the process, and it hasn’t proven successful. But they support adult stem cells like Hannah’s procedure. Now that’s putting your money where your mouth is. Hannah’s doing very well and is expected to go home. Adult stem cells are providing many cures and treatments without taking human life.