Sadly, SCT (shortened) has gotten a very bad name over the years. Some hoot and holler about the wonders of it; others have spent their entire life's savings and end up no better. Thus, I wanted to share my journey and results.

I first want to tell readers that I am married to a research scientist. This has come in handy countless times over our 21 years of matrimony and this was one of those times.

Now for the backdrop, and I'll try to be brief. I don't want to bore anyone.

• 1976 I have a bicycling accident, landing on a concrete parking block with my knee, weight, momentum, etc.

• Thirty-six years and literally dozens of doctors, procedures, injections and radical surgeries later, a pain mgmt doctor finally identifies neuropathy and degeneration of the joint (osteoarthritis) due to 3+ decades of inflammation by a very angry and damaged nerve.

• Neurostimulator is implanted and neuropathy is 95% under control but the degeneration obviously continues and, with it, extreme pain.

• Six years later I start considering stem cell therapy and I begin my search.

My brother has a chiropractor that hired a nurse practitioner that "specializes" in this and, at first, I was excited and on board with this. The cells come from umbilical cords and supposedly there are millions of them per CC.

My aforementioned wife is extremely uneasy so I back down and let her put her "researcher hat" on and she digs in. By the time she's done, she informs me that the provider of this serum has been in major trouble with the FDA due to making false claims of stem cells! I quickly put on the brakes and start reading up on what she had found. Her searching took her (then me) to Regenexx and the mountains of data that they have on their many years of experience with SCT. They openly tell viewers of their videos that they have tested (with their extremely sophisticated equipment) samples of umbilical and amniotic fluids and can find no viable stem cells (they use the medical term that I can't pronounce, much less spell) in any of the samples. While there is a large number of PRP (platelet rich plasma) present, which does have regenerative benefits, this is the extent of what was found.

They have had all of their success (and they have had a LOT of it) pulling bone marrow from the patient themselves, then spinning down the fluid to identify and separate both PRP and stem cells, then injecting THAT into the affected area. Despite the data that's out there that says this is ineffective (and it is out there, my wife found it) that is all old data and the newest research says this is what works.

Well, my ortho surgeon practices this method of SCT. She was all for doing this for my knee joint but had never heard of SCT being helpful to a damaged nerve. We had found some (not much) research that said it CAN be effective. Then my primary (family) doctor informs he knew of a patient that was a quadriplegic and went to Taiwan; spent $80k and an unknown number of weeks undergoing SCT and came back able to move his hands and feet. Not able to walk yet but with that control over his extremeties my doc felt it was just a matter of time and he'd be walking again.

Enough for this first post - stay tuned for part 2!