VMC blazes trail to spinal cord injury cure with assist from Supes

Here’s the vision: Years from now, we’ll look back on the video below and say “This was the moment; the moment where it all became real.”

Let me explain, because this is going to be BIG. It needs to be.

A year ago, you might remember that Valley Medical Center was chosen to be the first place in the nation to conduct a trial of embryonic stem cells on real patients. In the video, you’ll meet both who got them—Richard and Katie. They are the only two in history west of the Mississippi to participate in this trial.

The company who sponsored the trial is Geron, and they discontinued the program due to funding considerations…and here’s why we must keep the work going: The stem cells that Katie got were just supposed to test whether the procedure could be done safely. We weren’t expecting her to improve her functioning and mobility.

But that’s what happened.

So three cheers to the Board of Supervisors of Santa Clara County for supporting our creation of an “Institute of Regenerative Medicine”. The video captures the first vote, and it’s only the first step…but again, years from now, I hope we can look back and recognize it as the moment where a whole new field of medicine was created, right here at VMC: Not just spinal cord injury rehabilitation, but spinal cord injury cure.

 Now we need YOUR help. If you would like to talk about supporting this critical work at this crucial time in history, please call me directly at 408-885-5299.