Saving Lives With Adult Stem Cells

A Roswell man gave up on living, content to sit down and wait for his heart to kill him. His family was not content. They searched and found something -- it would be a big gamble, but now the family says the payoff is nothing short of a miracle. Bob Grinstead has traveled six months of the past year. He can clean the pool; he can do what he wants. His wife, Barbara, calls that a miracle.

“You reach over at night, and aren’t sure he’s alive to be there for you,” said Barbara Grinstead.

A year ago Bob had given up on living.

“I had basically decided I was going to read until I died,” said Bob.

Bob had four heart attacks; couldn’t raise his arms above his head; needed to sit to take a shower.

“He was dying. It was painful to watch,” said Bob’s daughter, Darla McKenzie.

Then Bob made a life-or-death gamble with a lot of money. “When you put out $39,000, you hope it’s not a scam,” Bob said. He had heard about a stem cell procedure in Bangkok. What grabbed his attention -- it used his own stem cells. Daughter Darla went with her Mom and Dad to make sure they didn’t get ripped off. Bob’s blood was drawn, sent to Israel where his stem cells were multiplied, then injected into the worst parts of his heart. “It basically changed my life. I can do what I want to do,” Bob said. Doctors say it caused small veins to grow so more blood can flow to his heart. Bob was the first person in the world to fly to Bangkok to have the procedure done.

“I’m still lazy,” Bob said. “I don’t exercise, but I could. That’s the good part.”

Bob is going to windsurf next month on a beach vacation. The more controversial embryonic stem cells can be used to do more things. Adult stem cells are particularly effective around the heart.