Experimental medicine added quality time
09/22/2007, 10:40 pm
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By Janet Cremer

janetcremer@daily-journal.com
815-937-3384

She fought a courageous battle against Lou Gehrig's disease that took her all the way to Tijuana, Mexico for stem cell treatment.

But Wednesday, that 51/2-half year struggle ended when Pam Penley-Schuelke, 44, died at her Grant Park home.

She passed away peacefully after her breathing slowed and her heart weakened, said her longtime boyfriend Chuck Greenawalt, who recognized the compassion shown that morning by the Grant Park Fire Department and EMTs who answered the call. Greenawalt is also a firefighter.

Penley-Schuelke made Daily Journal headlines back in 2005, not because of her diagnosis but because of the way she and her family decided to fight her disease.

With funds collected from a benefit, they traveled to Tijuana so that she could be injected with 1.5 million stem cells from the umbilical cord of live births -- a procedure that cost $20,000. Though the treatment didn't involve the controversial abortion-related stem cells, its success is still unproven in medical circles, Greenawalt had noted in a previous Daily Journal article. It's still not available in the U.S., though Gov. Rod Blagojevich authorized spending $11 million for research, making him the only governor to do so.

Greenawalt said that after the article ran, he fielded at least 1,000 e-mails and phone calls from people wanting to know more about the procedure and whether or not he believed it was successful.

"It gave a bunch of sick people a little bit of hope that there might be something out there that could help them," he said, noting the calls came from people in "all walks of life ... rich, poor and in between."

So, does Greenawalt believe the stem cells made a difference in Pam's health?

Well, there's no way to be certain, he said. "I've never told anyone this is a definite promise or cure-all to anything."

What he does believe is that the treatment may have put his fiancee into a sort of remission, giving her "quality of life she may not have had otherwise."

The day before Penley-Schuelke died, Greenawalt said "she ate dinner with me like she had for the last five years." Just two days before, she had a "big bowl of spaghetti" that he had chopped up finely since swallowing was difficult for her.

Up until a week ago, she could stand for short periods, he said. And just hours after the stem cell treatment, she was able to use her hands to grab -- something she hadn't been able to do for some time.

In fact, Greenawalt noted that just three weeks ago, they were considering going for a second treatment -- something that would have cost $22,000.

"I guess, when I look back, getting the stem cells gave us the opportunity to be active participants in this and not just on the sidelines. We were able to fight this disease that everyone said was so hopeless," he said.

And what a fight it was, Greenawalt added, noting Penley-Schuelke greeted each day with a smile and never complained of her condition.

"I'm an old military guy and a firefighter, and I thought I was always so tough," he said, holding back the tears. "But Pam taught me what guts and courage and being tough is all about."


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