To China for a Shanghai Escort cure

To China for a Shanghai Escort cure
China is not normally considered a world leader in surgical advances, but according to a number of its doctors (and the
Canadian patients they’ve treated), it has leapfrogged ahead in stem cell treatments. A growing number of people are
travelling to China for a $30,000 experimental treatment: stem cell injections. Most, like New Brunswicker Jean Christophe
Haas, 40, decide to go because they have a debilitating illness and there isn’t much that Western medicine can do for them.
ShareThis Print Story Comment article tools sponsor Haas has Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), a terminal neuromuscular disease that affects the body in a similar way to Parkinson
’s, paralyzing it gradually. Although he was diagnosed 20 years ago, it took some years for the symptoms to become
noticeable. At first, only his sense of balance and his coordination were affected. Then his speech began to suffer and he
started slurring his words. In 2004, he had to stop work as an army mechanic because his motor skills were no longer up to massageescortBeijing MassageShanghai massageShanghai EscortShanghai massageShanghai Escortmassage in shenzhen massage shenzhen massage in guangzhou massage guangzhou massage in shanghai massage in shanghai shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort
par and, in the past couple of years, he started seeing double. His family felt an overwhelming sense of panic, especially
because Haas’s mother had the same disease, and his grandmother died of it. His desperation was compounded by the sense that
Canadian doctors had given up on him completely; one told him there was nothing to do but to accept his fate of an early
death, says his wife, Cherie Haas. “It’s awful for a young man with a family to go in and hear that. It’s heartbreaking.”
Ms. Haas searched the Web and found stories of other MJD patients who seemed to have been helped by stem cell therapy at
various Chinese hospitals. Many of these good news stories are posted on personal blogs or on the websites of the clinics
offering the treatments. There are thousands of these testimonials, suggesting that hundreds of people go every year, says
Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta, who has published studies on
this issue.
Advertising on the Internet, these Chinese medical centres promise to treat a surprisingly extensive range of diseases and
conditions, including ALS, autism, brain injuries, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, spinal
muscular atrophy, septo-optic dysplasia (which can cause seeing difficulties, blindness and mental retardation), spinal cord
injuries and stroke. Foreigners are a major source of funds for the clinics. Some doctors like Dr. Huang Hongyun, a
neuroscientist at Shanghai Xishan Hospital, have treated many patients from outside China, including some from Canada, and he
has published a number of papers in Chinese medical journals tracking patients pre- and post-procedure. And yet some North
American doctors are critical of how the data was compiled, and skeptical of the treatments on offer.
Once Jean Haas decided to go, he told his plans to Guy Rouleau, a neurologist at Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montr
éal, who said there were slight risks of complications, and that it would probably be a waste of money. But otherwise he didn
’t try to dissuade him. Raising the money for the trip was easier than expected: much of the town of Oromocto, N.B., pitched
in to raise the $30,000, with neighbours’ kids shovelling driveways to help out, and the military and community
organizations hosting breakfasts and fundraisers. In April 2007, he and his wife travelled to Shenzhen, China, and stayed a
little more than a month. During that time, Haas had six injections of stem cells into his spine, and an intense program of
physiotherapy, exercise, Massage Shanghai and acupuncture. The results were immediate, he says—his balance improved just a
few hours after the first procedure. Back in Canada, his neurologist confirmed that Haas had indeed gotten better: he had
about 10 to 15 per cent more movement, according to Rouleau, who examined him before and after the trip. It’s difficult to
speculate why this occurred, but Rouleau believes the intense physiotherapy was the primary cause.
When the couple returned from China, they wrote about their experience on the Web. Word got around, and soon hundreds of
people were calling them, Cherie says. A couple whose husband had a similar neurodegenerative disease even drove from Quebec
to see them, and the man subsequently decided to make the stem cell trip. Another couple flew in from Taber, Alta., and
decided to go to China after seeing the home videos of Haas’s progress. Those gains were partly due to the attitude of
Chinese doctors, Cherie believes. They would tell Haas to push himself to his limit and even try to “retrain his brain,”
she explains. “We saw miracles while we were over there. We put the word out because I know this works.”
Even if patients experience gains, it’s important to determine whether they are from the treatment, the exercise program or
a more positive frame of mind. Any advances could be merely the placebo effect, as people often feel better after being
treated, even if the procedure hasn’t worked and the gains won’t last, explains John Steeves, a professor at the college
for interdisciplinary studies at the University of British Columbia who specializes in spinal cord injuries. Finding out
whether any treatment really works requires clinical trials, and although Dr. Huang has published the results of his trials
in Chinese medical journals, this data does not conform to international standards of medical analysis. Indeed, Steeves
believes Huang deliberately flouts these standards to help his bottom line. “Dr. Huang has no interest doing a valid
clinical trial because if it doesn’t give him good results, his income would dry up immediately,” he says from his
Vancouver office.
Patients, like Haas, who seem to have been helped by stem cell treatments, are often eager to share their stories. They may
become advocates for the Chinese medical centres; Haas’s story is publicized on the website of the company that organized
his medical tourism trip. By contrast, it’s more difficult to find people who haven’t gotten better, or are worse after
spending $30,000 on an experimental procedure. This might be because they feel duped, or because the Chinese stem cell
treatment emphasizes empowerment—a “you can do it attitude.” Those who can’t “do it,” who go through the rigorous
training program and end up no better off, may feel unlucky, Shanghai Escort cheated, or they may take the lack of success personally and
feel that they have somehow failed.