Last Modified: 25 Jun 2007
Source: PA News


A man with a fatal muscle-wasting disease is hoping stem cells from his unborn half brother will save his life.

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When Michael Emms, 20, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) last Christmas his world fell apart. Experts believe the odds of developing the disease while young are slim, but sufferers die within five years - half die within 14 months.

Mr Emms, of Caerwent, south Wales, was a typical teenager working at a local store and playing football at weekends before being diagnosed with MND. Now he is pinning his hopes for any improvement on pioneering experimental stem cell therapy in America.

Those hopes have been marginally boosted by the prospect of taking matching cells from his unborn half brother.

His father Julian's fiancee, Joanne Stanley, 27, of Ebbw Vale, is six-and-a-half months pregnant with a baby boy, to be named Rhys. When he is born, nurses will take stem cells from his umbilical cord and freeze them ready to be flown to America. Mr Emms will then fly to an Institute of Cellular Medicine clinic, in Boston, where the cells will be implanted in his spinal cord.

MND causes progressive breakdown of muscle nerve cells, leading to mobility loss and difficulties with speech, breathing and swallowing. But experts at the clinic believe the stem cells could repair damaged tissue and reverse the muscle wastage.

Miss Stanley said the chances of success were enhanced if the stem cells came from a relative of Mr Emms. "If there's a genetic match it's much more likely the treatment will work," she told the South Wales Argus, in Newport.

"To get a match otherwise could take three or four years and Michael doesn't have that time. But Rhys will have a DNA link."

"Nothing's certain about the treatment. But even a 1% chance could mean everything. It would mean Michael's baby brother saved his life."

Family and friends are now hoping to raise the £27,000 medical fees and £3,000 travel and hotel costs that Mr Emms needs.
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