Cord Blood Gives Young Girl 50% Recovery

July 30th, 2008 Posted in News, Videos

When Chloe Levine was nine-months-old, her parents noticed she was unable to hold her bottle with her right hand, raise her arms above her head and crawl.  At twelve-months, a CAT scan showed that the left side of Chloe’s brain wasn’t developed and contained fluid.  The family’s neurologist soon diagnosed her with right-side hemiplegic cerebral palsy. “The cerebral palsy had only affected the right side of her body,” Jenny Levine said Monday morning on FOX & Friends. “The neurologist told us we were looking at 17, 18 years of therapy.”

This was daunting to her parents, so they explored other options.  They got word of an experimental procedure at Duke University in North Carolina where children with cerebral palsy are infused with their own cord blood stem cells in an effort to heal and repair damaged brain tissue. Fortunately for Chloe, her parents decided to save these cord blood stem cells when she was born. 

Just in two months, Chloe’s parents can already see drastic improvements. According to her therapist she has made a 50% recovery. She is now running, walking, and doing sign language with her right hand.  Her mother Jenny adds, “[i]t’s a miracle.  To hear your baby’s voice is a gift.”  Her parents could not be happier with the results and encourage Chloe in her continued progress; they also encourage new parents to also store their child’s cord blood.

The cost for storing the blood is about 2,000 dollars, which will hopefully decrease soon.  However, this is a small price to pay down the road when it could save your child’s life.

For more information on this story click here. 

For additional information from a past blog on cord blood click here.