Gordie Howe continues amazing recovery
As I'm sure many remember, Gordie Howe suffered a serious stroke in October and was in bad shape before receiving stem cell treatments starting December 8. The Windsor Star has some updates, all of which are extremely positive. Some highlights from Dr Murray Howe, his youngest son:
Howe’s first treatment involved an injection into his spine. Afterward, he was required to lie on a bed for eight hours. Once that time passed, a nurse came to see if Howe needed to go to the bathroom. When Howe answered in the affirmative, Murray went and got a container. “He was already using more words and that alone was amazing to me and then he said, ‘No, I’ll go to the bathroom,’” Murray recalled. “I said ‘Dad, you can’t walk,’ and he said, ‘The hell I can’t,’ and he sits up.” Howe walked under his own power to the bathroom.
Fast forward one day later, back in the US.
That evening, we were back in San Diego and he’s walking around the hotel room under his own power,” Murray explained. “He’s making the beds in the hotel. I said, ‘Dad, we’re in a hotel. The maids will make them.’ And he’s like, ‘No, I’ll give them a break,’ because he likes to make beds.
I definitely recommend reading the whole article, very happy and inspirational news. One of the all time greats going from "one foot in the grave" to gaining twenty pounds and playing soccer and driveway hockey in such a short period of time is unbelievable.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:27 PM ^
I say this as a man that takes his conditioning seriously at 6'4" 235.
That man was a stud. Christ, he's what? 50 in the second picture?
January 18th, 2015 at 8:58 PM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 12:14 AM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 12:18 AM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 12:18 AM ^
January 18th, 2015 at 8:58 PM ^
January 18th, 2015 at 9:04 PM ^
The "stem cells" could not possibly have had any effect on his neural system within 8 hours. He's better, no doubt, but don't think it's the treatment given. Lots of people go down to Mexico for experimental treatments; most of them don't come back and you don't get to hear their stories.
Doesn't really matter why he's better in the end, just glad he is recovering.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:37 PM ^
In the 16th century, it was a "Helluva assumption" that bacteria caused disease, too.
We need to get over the taboo on stem cell research. I am one of those who thinks that paralysis, CTE and dementia could be pretty much wiped out with stem cell therapy.
January 18th, 2015 at 11:45 PM ^
There is plenty of stem cell research going on in the US and Japan right now. Could support for it be improved? Sure. I work in biotechnology and it's clear that there are problems associated with funding and unscientific nutjobs trying to hold back good research. But the major thing holding back stem cell therapies is not anti-abortion zealots, it's lack of efficacy and clinical safety (which is the major obstacle for almost all cutting edge therapies).
Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this, but from working in the biomedical community it's my understanding that the whole "stem cell debate" that flared up in the early 2000s is mostly irrelevant at this point. The research institutions and clinics where all the best research is done are located in states that have virtually no restrictions on the use of embryonic stem cells (California's constitution actually stipulates that restrictions are illegal). They were banned in Michigan for a little bit but Proposal 2 in 2008 overturned that and the University of Michigan is free to use embryonic stem cells for biomedical research.
Another reason these therapies are highly regulated is that they're dangerous. There's a chapter in a book called "When Science Goes Wrong" about an Olympic runner named Max Truex who suffered from Parkinson's and went to China to receive a controversial treatment involving fetal stem cell implants. In the end, the treatment likely killed him. The FDA isn't anti-scientific, they're just careful.
January 18th, 2015 at 10:20 PM ^
Stem cells need to be embraced.
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January 18th, 2015 at 9:07 PM ^
It's also sad that some people are still against stem cell research in this country. Gordie had to go to Mexico for his treatment and Peyton Manning had it done in Europe.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:18 PM ^
Is most likely that there are major doubts in the stem cell research community as to the efficacy of the treatment. There is plenty of amazing stem cell research being done here in the US and also in Japan. Just this past year a major group at Harvard reported huge steps towards a stem cell therapy for Type I diabetes.
The fact that Gordie Howe is doing better is incredible and I couldn't be happier for him and his family, but it is not due to the stem cell treatment he received. Gordie Howe's condition was largely the after-effects of a stroke. Are we to believe that stem cells injected into his spinal cord healed his brain in a matter of 8 hours?
January 18th, 2015 at 9:26 PM ^
Exactly, scientifically speaking it is impossible that the stem cells allowed him to be up and walking within 8 hours. People suffer strokes all of the time and regain the ability to walk without receiving stem cell treatment.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:31 PM ^
I'm not saying it works, but why prevent people from trying it here?
January 18th, 2015 at 9:56 PM ^
And not because it utilizes stem cells. In fact, the type of stem cells used in this therapy are NOT embryonic stem cells and thus it has no conneciton whatsoever to the abortion issue.
The reason it's unethical is because it gives desparate people false hope and causes them to be robbed blind, for tens of thousands or more. For a therapy that doesn't work and borders on pseudoscience. The only reason the clinic operates in Mexico is so that they can evade US Federal regulations.
Not sure why I'm getting negged for exposing a crooked medical enterprise for what it is.
January 19th, 2015 at 2:01 AM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 4:42 AM ^
The company providing the treatment, Stemedica, is currently conning hundreds of desperate patients and their families claiming to have a miracle treatment that is not scientifically sound. Stem cell therapies can work, but there is no way Gordie Howe got better due to his treatment.
This is not a stem cell issue. This is a "greedy pharmaceutical company robbing people blind" issue. Look up "Stanislaw Burzynski" if you want another example.
January 19th, 2015 at 3:06 AM ^
The treatment that Gordie received is completely ethical. I hope everyone here takes the time to research the difference between adult and embryonic stem cell research. Gordie was given adult stem cell treatment which is without question ethically embraced by everyone who has researched the topic.
Embryonic stem cell research presents ethical challenges. It may not matter in the end as adult stem cell research is currently more promising of the two.
January 19th, 2015 at 4:41 AM ^
It's unethical because it likely doesn't work, yet it's being pitched as a miracle cure. Desperate people are paying tens of thousands for this treatment yet there is no proof that it's effective. Look up "Stanislaw Burzynski" if you want another example of a case like this.
There is a reason drug companies must run controlled, double-blinded clinical trials to prove a drugs efficacy before they can sell it. A lot of it is to prevent crooks from coming up with psuedoscientific therapies and swindling the public into believing they work. That's why this clinic is in Mexico: to evade the FDA.
Stem cell research in the U.S. has not been under threat for many years now. In the early 2000s a few states passed laws to inhibit it, but currently it's only prohibited in backwater places like Arkansas. And the NIH funds it just like any other cutting edge therapy, as it has all along.
January 18th, 2015 at 8:58 PM ^
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January 18th, 2015 at 9:01 PM ^
Especially for those with family members battling Alzheimer's and Dementia.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:26 PM ^
There are a lot of crazy things going on the world of medicine right now. They are currently using a harmless form of HIV engineered to target cancer and seeing very positive results.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2830879/Is-HIV-cure-cancer-Marr…
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2014/05/07/is-this-how-well-c…
January 18th, 2015 at 10:12 PM ^
January 18th, 2015 at 9:08 PM ^
January 18th, 2015 at 9:07 PM ^
hockey against Gordie Howe.
With this man's drive, maybe we can see another ice appearance. Even if he can't play it would be awesome to see him on the ice at Joe Louis.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:10 PM ^
Even better, he's scoring on his great-grandkids these days. No doubt one of the greatest athletes of all time and a living legend.
He had been scheduled to speak in Saskatoon with Wayne Gretzky on February 6, but I don't know if that's still happening or not.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:15 PM ^
I thought I put grandkids instead of great grandkids and yeah it's that much more awesome.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:29 PM ^
Perhaps somewhat related, Kinsmen Arena in Saskatoon will now be The Kinsmen Gordie Howe Arena as of a story from about a week ago or so now. Supposedly, the renaming was not supposed to happen until a bit later in the year but the city moved it up to coincide with Howe's apparently still scheduled visit. Not sure if he still is going, but the city of Saskatoon is hopeful if nothing else.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:43 PM ^
He was there. That was the first time I got his autograph on my alumimum falcon stick. Everyone had to have the blue one. The red one was no good.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:48 PM ^
which happens to be an extremely shady medical corporation. These articles shed some light on the situation:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/dec/25/gordie-howe-stem-cell-stemedica-novastem-hockey/
http://sctmonitor.blogspot.com/2012/05/stemedica-thrives-on-neglect.html
I'm as happy as anyone to hear about Gordie Howe's amazing recovery, but the crooks who run Stemedica don't deserve the positive attention they're getting from this story.
EDIT: Whoever is negging me please demonstrate where I went wrong. I work in biotechnology and would love for this to be true but all I see is a bunch of thieves evading US regulations to prey on desparate patients and their families.
January 18th, 2015 at 9:56 PM ^
I'm not negging you and don't have the expertise or the desire to get into a debate on Stemedica or the science behind these treatments, but Murray Howe seems to have the credentials and sophistication to know if he was being scammed and has a pretty lengthy statement defending his decision in your first link.
January 18th, 2015 at 10:23 PM ^
All Murray Howe really says is that his dad had a seemingly miraculous improvement, and that he thought the people he interacted with from Stemedica didn't seem particularly devious.
I don't doubt Gordie Howe's improvement. What I do doubt is that it was due to the stem cell injections he received. Murray Howe admits in his statement that he is a clinical radiologist, not a stem cell researcher, and that he doesn't make any claims as to the physiological mechanisms underlying his dad's recovery. I don't blame him for seeking out this treatment regimen under the circumstances. He and his family were desparate and Stemedica was willing to "help." But it's obvious that the reason they didn't even charge the Howes for the treatment is that having a high-profile figure like Gordie Howe as a patient is huge from a funding perspective. Claiming that a well-known celebrity benefited from their therapy is certainly going to catch the attention of investors.
But the truth is, Gordie Howe is just one patient, and absolutely no conclusions can be drawn solely from his experience. In the articles I cited, you'll see that well-regarded stem cell researchers in the US are skeptical of Stemedica and the clinic in Mexico. In fact, the doctors at the clinic who treated Howe weren't even stem cell clinicians. Yet another reason why this business looks quite shady.
January 18th, 2015 at 10:09 PM ^
January 18th, 2015 at 10:17 PM ^
They did mix up the whole "Mexico is part of North America" thing but the other stories about this seemed to use them as the source.
January 18th, 2015 at 10:27 PM ^
January 18th, 2015 at 10:37 PM ^
Amazing comeback!
And Columbus still sucks!