Health Highlights: Aug. 29, 2017 – Bloomington Pantagraph

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Another Outbreak of Salmonella Traced to Pet Turtles

Thirty-seven people across 13 states have contracted salmonella infection from contact with pet turtles, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday.

The agency has for years warned Americans that reptiles such as turtles can be a potent source of the potentially dangerous bacterium, which attacks the gastrointestinal system.

In fact, the CDC notes that "since 1975, the FDA has banned selling and distributing turtles with shells less than 4 inches long as pets because they are often linked to salmonella infections, especially in young children."

In the the latest outbreak, illnesses began to appear on March 1 and diagnoses continued until Aug. 3, the agency said. No deaths have yet been reported, but 16 people have required hospitalization. The CDC says the outbreak may not yet be over.

The agency's advice? "Do not buy small turtles as pets or give them as gifts. All turtles, regardless of size, can carry Salmonella bacteria even if they look healthy and clean."

Federal Prisons Must Now Make Free Tampons, Pads Available

New policy from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBP) now requires that all facilities make feminine hygiene products, such as tampons and pads, available for free to prisoners who need them.

In an email memo issued earlier in August, FBP spokesman Justin Long said that "wardens have the responsibility to ensure female hygiene products such as tampons or pads are made available for free in sufficient frequency and number. Prior to the (memo), the type of products provided was not consistent, and varied by institution."

Andrea James is a former lawyer and founder of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. In 2010 and 2011, she served 18 months in a federal prison.

Speaking with CNN, James recalled tough choices made by prisoners involving feminine hygiene products, which the prisoners themselves had to pay for.

"We were paid 12 cents an hour [for in-prison work]," she said, and that wage could be spent on other things, such as phone calls. "That's the choice. Do I buy the tampons or do I call my children?"

According to CNN, the new policy arrives a month after Democratic Senators Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin and Kamala Harris introduced the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act into Congress. Among other issues, the Act requires that women in prisons have access to multiple sizes of free tampons, pads and liners. Long said the new announcement had nothing to do with the proposed law, however.

In a statement, Harris said she applauded the memorandum, adding, "too many women reside in prison and jail facilities that don't support basic hygiene or reproductive health, and that's just not right."

FDA: Serious Problems at Florida Stem Cell Clinic

A Florida stem cell clinic has been cited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for what the agency describes as serious problems that could pose health risks to patients.

The agency said Monday that it has cited US Stem Cell Clinic, of Sunrise, for marketing stem cell products without FDA approval and for "significant deviations from current good manufacturing practice requirements," including some that could affect the "sterility of their products, putting patients at risk."

"Stem cell clinics that mislead vulnerable patients into believing they are being given safe, effective treatments that are in full compliance with the law are dangerously exploiting consumers and putting their health at risk," FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a news release.

The FDA said it recently inspected US Stem Cell Clinic and found that it was processing fat tissue into stem cells derived from body fat and administering the product both intravenously or directly into the spinal cord of patients to treat a variety of serious health problems. Those problems included Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart disease, among others.

The FDA said it hasn't approved any biological products made by US Stem Cell Clinic for any use.

During an inspection, FDA investigators also found evidence of "significant deviations from current good manufacturing practices" in the production of at least 256 lots of stem cell products. Those deviations included "failure to establish and follow appropriate written procedures designed to prevent microbiological contamination of products purporting to be sterile, which puts patients at risk for infections."

US Stem Cell Clinic also tried to hamper the FDA's investigation during a recent inspection "by refusing to allow entry except by appointment and by denying FDA investigators access to employees," the agency said.

Interfering with an FDA inspection is a violation of federal law, the agency said.

The FDA said it wants to hear from US Stem Cell Clinic within 15 working days, detailing how the problems cited in the agency warning letter will be fixed. If the problems aren't corrected, the company faces such enforcement actions as seizure, injunction or prosecutions, the agency said.

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Health Highlights: Aug. 29, 2017 - Bloomington Pantagraph

FDA Approves First-of-Its-Kind Cancer Treatment – WebMD

August 30, 2017 -- The FDA has for the first time approved a treatment that uses a patients own genetically modified cells to attack a type of leukemia, opening the door towhat one doctor callsthe breakthrough of the century.

The approval Wednesdayallows a process known asCAR-T cell therapy to be used in children or young adults fightinganoften fatal recurrenceof the most common childhoodcancer -- B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

And it clears the way for a new approach to fighting cancer byharnessing the bodys immune system -- a long-sought goal of medical researchers.

This is a dream come true, says Henry Fung, MD, director of the Fox Chase Cancer Center-Temple University Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant Program. Its now limited to one disease in children only, but that platform potentially can benefit a lot of different types of cancer patients, particularly blood cancer patients.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, called the approval of the therapy--brand named Kymriah--a "new frontier in medical innovation."

"New technologies such as gene and cell therapies hold out the potential to transform medicine and create an inflection point in our ability to treat and even cure many intractable illnesses," Gottlieb says.

Fung, who's also vice chairman of hematology/oncology at Fox Chase, says the treatment could help patients beat back an illness that has resisted conventional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation, leaving them facing death. This is the breakthrough of the century, he says.

And Hetty Carraway, MD, an acute leukemia doctor at the Cleveland Clinic, says the newly approved therapy represents a first step for a new way of treating cancer.

If it can bring this kind of paradigm to other types of cancers, thats really where I think the larger implications are, she says.

B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia attacks the blood cells that make antibodies, which help your body fight off disease. Most of the time, its treated successfully with chemotherapy, radiation, or by transplants of bone marrow, which produces blood cells. But in some cases, treatment fails to beat back the cancer, or it comes back. When that happens, the odds of survival fall to as little as 1 in 10.

The new treatment, known as CTL019 or Tisagenlecleucel, is a one-time infusion developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the pharmaceutical company Novartis. Officially known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, it starts with doctors extracting disease-fighting white blood cells, known as T cells, from a patients blood. The cells are frozen and shipped to a laboratory, where theyre genetically engineered to attack a specific protein on the cancerous B cells.

Theyre then put back into the body, where they seek out and destroy cancer cells. And because theyre cells taken from the patients own body, theres no need for anti-rejection drugs, which are needed after transplants.

This is really combining everything together, Fung says. This is truly using patients own immune cells to fight cancer.

The therapy can have dangerous side effects -- mainly a condition known as cytokine release syndrome. That happens when T cells release a lot of a chemical messenger into the bloodstream. This affects the vascular system, causing high fevers and sharp drops in blood pressure. More than 60% of patients in clinical trials had side effects due to cytokine release, Novartis reported, but none of those reactions were fatal.

Emily Whitehead, the first pediatric patient to try the therapy in 2011, had such a bad reaction initially that she was in a coma for 14 days. Her doctors told the family to say their good-byes.

They believed she had less than a 1-in-1,000 chance of surviving to the next morning, says her father, Tom Whitehead.

As a last hope, doctors gave Emily the arthritis drug Interleukin-6. Within 12 hours, she started to recover. She has been cancer free for five years.

This is a dream come true.

Carraway says the doctors giving the treatment should be experienced in managing cytokine release syndrome.

We know and expect that type of side effect will happen, and we know that we can successfully manage it, she says. But it needs to be managed by people who are familiar with this type of side effect and how best to support patients.

Other side effects included anemia, nausea, diarrhea, and headaches.

In three trials involving about 150 people, the remission rates were 69%, 83%, and 95%. A total of 17 patients died after receiving the treatment; 14 of them from the disease and three from infections, according to documents the company filed with the FDA.

We believe this treatment can change the world, says Tom Whitehead, who frequently speaks about his daughters experience and testified before the FDA about the treatment. He also helps raise money for childrens cancer research through The Emily Whitehead Foundation. But we know some children relapse and we know children who didnt make it.

Another concern is the price tag associated with the therapy: The process is reported to cost as much as $300,000.

Certainly, its far and above the expense that we typically see for drugs, Carraway says. But current treatments can also run into the low six figures, sometimes with little success. The number of patients with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia is small, and the options for them in their young lives are pretty limited.

We hope CAR-T is the end of it all.

Our hope is well get better at making these medications, and hopefully, with time, the cost of this will decrease, she adds.

Novartis spokeswoman Julie Masow says the company will do everything we can to help get the treatment to patients who need it.

We are carefully considering the appropriate price for CTL019, taking into consideration the value that this treatment represents for patients, society, and the health care system, both near-term and long-term, as well as input from external health economic experts, Masow says.

The therapy was produced via pioneering technology and a sophisticated manufacturing process, she says -- however, We recognize our responsibility in bringing this innovative treatment to patients.

One of the more recent patients to have CAR-T cell therapy is 5-year-old Liam Thistlethwaite. He has been cancer free for 4 months since starting the therapy to treat his acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

First diagnosed shortly before his second birthday, Liam had gotten 32 months of different kinds of chemotherapy drugs to poison the cancer out of his small body. The treatment is harsh but almost always successful. Doctors told Liams parents he had a 96% chance of a cure if he could finish it.

But 8 months later, Liams cancer came back, with a vengeance. Leukemia cells spread to his spinal fluid. Tumors grew on two glands in his brain.

Liams doctor, Ching-Hon Pui, MD, chairman of the Oncology Department at St. Jude, had recently been to a medical conference that discussed the results of the CAR-T therapy. He convinced Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia to put him on its waiting list, which was about 6 months long at the time.

Because Liam was relatively healthy and had a low cancer burden when he was treated, his father thinks he avoided some of the most severe side effects of the therapy. He spiked very high fevers and spent a few days in the hospital but pulled through.

Hes started school. Hes doing wonderfully, says Patrick Thistlethwaite.

One of the unanswered questions is how long CAR-T cells can last in the body. In some patients, theyve persisted for as long as 5 years. Others have their cells die in weeks or months. Another big question is whether the cancer will come back if the CAR-T cells are gone.

The Thistlethwaites say it was very hard to know whether to try CAR-T on a toddler.

Our physician truly felt that wed have the same odds, so to speak, as going into a stem cell transplant with heavy radiation. He believed CAR-T to have high side effects up front, but no high long-term side effects," Patrick Thistlethwaite says.

They knew radiation to Liams brain and spinal cord could cause long-term damage.

We still have those options, Patrick says. We hope we never have to use them.

We hope CAR-T is the end of it all.

National Cancer Institute: CAR-T Cells.

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: Relapsed and Refractory ALL.

American Cancer Society: Cancers that Develop in Children.

News release: Novartis CAR-T cell therapy CTL019 unanimously (10-0) recommended for approval by FDA advisory committee to treat pediatric, young adult r/r B-cell ALL.

Henry Fung, MD, director, Fox Chase Cancer Center-Temple University Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant Program.

Hetty Carraway, MD, acute leukemia doctor, Cleveland Clinic.

Ching-Hon Pui, MD, chairman, Department of Oncology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

FDA.gov: Slides for the July 12, 2017 Meeting of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC).

Patrick Thistlethwaite.

Tom Whitehead, The Emily Whitehead Foundation. Drug maker Novartis is a sponsor of the foundations upcoming Believe Ball, which raises money for childrens cancer research.

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FDA Approves First-of-Its-Kind Cancer Treatment - WebMD

2 Legionnaires’ disease cases reported at Seattle hospital, 1 resulting in death – KIRO Seattle

by: Linzi Sheldon Updated: Aug 25, 2017 - 5:43 PM

Two patients have developed Legionella pneumonia while being treated at University of Washington Medical Center, and a third patient is believed to have acquiredLegionellaoutside the hospital, medical director of the UW Medical Center Dr. TomStaigersaid at a news conference Friday.

One of the patients who contracted the disease at UWMC, a woman, has died. Hospital officials say the woman had multiple underlying conditions in addition to the severe kind of pneumonia she acquired.

The other patient, a man, is currently being treated at the hospital, as is the man who got the disease in the community.

Patients in the Cascade Tower are not allowed use sinks or showers and are being provided bottled water for drinking.

Tammee Ryan, whose son is staying in the tower after a stem cell transplant for leukemia, contacted KIRO 7 with photos of the warnings. She said her son is on immunosuppressant medication.

It's a very difficult time for us right now and Im extremely concerned for his safety, she said.

Ryan said that while a nurse had informed them of the cases of Legionnaires disease, no one had told them about the recent death.

To find out that someones diedits really concerning, she said, adding that patients and their families should be updated daily.

Scroll down to continue reading.

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These are the first cases of health care-associated Legionella pneumonia to occur at the hospitalsince five cases were confirmed in August and September of 2016 in the same tower.

UWMC identified faucets in two operating-room scrub sinks as the source.

Doctors said Friday that since last fall, they've implemented an intensive water management program with constant testing.

KIRO 7 asked Staiger about the most recent test in July. He said it did not show high levels of Legionella.

The levels that we have seen now are a tenth to a hundredth of what we saw last year, he said. He said its unclear if there was a sudden spike or if even very low levels of the bacteria caused these recent cases.

How on earth is this happening again? In less than a year? Ryan asked.

Staiger said there are bathing facilities available for some patients in other parts of the building. He said based on experts' advice, some patients with weakened immune systems are being given antibiotics to help protect them from the Legionella bacteria, although Ryan noted her son had not been put on the antibiotics.

People can develop Legionella pneumonia by breathing in small droplets of water (such as steam or mist) that contain the bacteria.

Legionella bacteria live naturally in freshwater and rarely cause illness. In certain situations, Legionellabacteria can also grow in other water settings, such as showers and faucets, cooling towers, decorative fountains and hot tubs.

People with a chronic lung disease or weak immune systems as well as people who take drugs that suppress the immune system are at greater risk of contracting Legionella pneumonia.

The bacteria are rarely, if ever, transmitted from one person to another.

UW Medicine is testing sinks, ice machines and other water sources.

Preliminary test results are expected next week and more definitive results are expected in two weeks.

2017 Cox Media Group.

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2 Legionnaires' disease cases reported at Seattle hospital, 1 resulting in death - KIRO Seattle

Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota develop ‘robocop’ stem cells to fight cancer – Southernminn.com

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota say theyre on the brink of a new era in cancer care one in which doctors extract a patients white blood cells, have them genetically engineered in a lab, and put them back to become personalized cancer-fighting machines.

The so-called CAR T cellular therapies are expected to receive federal approval this fall for certain rare blood cancers B-cell forms of lymphoma and leukemia. But scientists at the Minnesota institutions hope thats just the first step that will lead to better treatment of solid tumor cancers as well.

This is really the first approval of a genetically modified product for cancer therapy, said Dr. Jeffrey Miller, deputy director of the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota. If the proof of concept works, he said, we might be on the right track to get away from all of that toxic chemotherapy that people hate.

Participating in industry-funded clinical trials, the Minnesota researchers hoped to determine if patients with leukemia or lymphoma would be more likely to survive if their own stem cells were extracted to grow cancer-fighting T-cells that were then infused back into their bodies.

One analysis, involving trials by Kite Pharmaceuticals at Mayo and other institutions, found a sevenfold increase in lymphoma patients whose cancers disappeared when they received CAR T instead of traditional chemo-based treatment.

I often tell patients that T-cells are like super robocops, said Dr. Yi Lin, a Mayo hematologist in Rochester. Were now directing those cells to really target cancer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is widely expected this fall to approve CAR T products made by Kite and Novartis, which genetically engineer T-cells to target so-called CD19 proteins found on the surface of leukemia and lymphoma cells.

The side effects can be harsh, because the T-cell infusions trigger an immune system response that can produce fever, weakness, racing heart and kidney problems. Short-term memory and cognitive problems also have occurred. Brain swelling led to five deaths of cancer patients who took part in a CAR T trial by Juno Pharmaceuticals. The trial was shut down as a result.

Lin said brain swelling appeared mostly in adults with leukemia. For now, she expects Kites CAR T therapy to be approved for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and the Novartis therapy to be approved for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. Federal regulations also might restrict CAR T for patients whose cancers survived traditional treatments.

Current practice to treat these cancers generally involves chemotherapy and radiation. Physicians then transplant stem cells, often from donor bone marrow, to regrow the patients immune systems, which are weakened in the process of treatment.

CAR T differs in that patients will receive infusions of their own T-cells, genetically modified, which their bodies will be less likely to reject.

Its individualized medicine, Lin said.

Before he tried CAR T at Mayo as part of a clinical trial, John Renze of Carroll, Iowa, had received two rounds of chemo, two rounds of radiation, and an experimental drug that did nothing to stop the spread of lymphoma.

After you fail about four times, you start to wonder if anything is going to work, the 58-year-old said.

At first, there was no room for him in the Mayo trial which has been a problem nationwide as desperate cancer patients have searched for treatment alternatives. But then he got the call one morning last summer while ordering coffee at his local cafe.

Can you get up here by one? the Mayo official asked.

Im on my way, Renze replied.

Even before federal approval comes through, researchers such as Miller are looking beyond the first-line CAR T therapies, and wondering if the approach can be used on solid tumors. Roughly 80,000 blood cancers occur each year in the U.S. that could be treated with CAR T, but the total number of cancers diagnosed each year is nearly 1.7 million.

The challenge is that solid tumors dont have the same protein targets as blood cancers. And T-cells would have to be more discriminating if infused to eliminate tumors in solid organs, Miller said. If you destroy normal lung tissue (along with lung cancer), thats not going to work, he said.

Mayo researchers are studying whether CAR T can work against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, while U researchers are exploring ways to better control the CAR T-cells after they are infused in cancer patients.

Researchers also are trying to understand whether CAR T produces memory in the immune system, so it knows to react if cancers resurface.

In addition, Miller is studying whether NK cells, which also play a role in the human immune system, can be genetically modified and infused instead of T-cells to target cancer. The body doesnt reject NK cells from donors as much, he said. So NK cells from donor bone marrow or umbilical cord blood could be collected and mass produced to potentially provide faster and cheaper treatments.

Like many breakthrough therapies, CAR T will be expensive, with a price likely to exceed $200,000 per patient. How insurers plan to cover it remains unclear. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is evaluating evidence regarding CAR Ts effectiveness, and will set a coverage policy after it receives FDA approval, said Dr. Glenn Pomerantz, Blue Cross chief medical officer.

Mayo expects a surge of hundreds of cancer patients per year if CAR T is approved, because it will initially be provided by large medical centers that have experience with the therapy and its side effects. The Rochester hospital is planning to add staff and space dedicated to CAR T.

Miller said the U is developing advice for referring doctors and hospitals statewide, so they know what to do if CAR T patients show up with complex symptoms.

They can be a bit delayed and you cant just keep people in the hospital to see if they develop these things, he said.

Renzes stem cells were taken last July, and his modified T-cells were put back a month later. He lost weight and felt sick for weeks, and had to drive three hours to Mayo for frequent checkups.

But as of last Aug. 31, the cancer had vanished.

Every three months, he returns to Mayo to make sure the cancer hasnt re-emerged. Then he returns to Carroll, where he owns farmland and car dealerships and dotes on his grandchildren.

For people like me that have already failed a bunch of times, youre happy to try anything, he said. I mean, what else would I have done?

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Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota develop 'robocop' stem cells to fight cancer - Southernminn.com

Bone Marrow Transplant gives local cancer patient more time with his family – KTBS

ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-TXZ097-151>153-165>167-192100-/O.NEW.KSHV.HT.Y.0009.170819T1500Z-170820T0000Z/Sevier-Howard-Little River-Hempstead-Nevada-Miller-Lafayette-Columbia-Union-Caddo-Bossier-Webster-Claiborne-Lincoln-De Soto-Red River-Bienville-Jackson-Ouachita-Sabine-Natchitoches-Winn-Grant-Caldwell-La Salle-Bowie-Panola-Nacogdoches-Shelby-Angelina-San Augustine-Including the cities of De Queen, Nashville, Mineral Springs, Dierks, Ashdown, Hope, Prescott, Texarkana, Stamps, Lewisville, Bradley, Magnolia, El Dorado, Shreveport, Bossier City, Minden, Springhill, Homer, Haynesville, Ruston, Farmerville, Bernice, Mansfield, Stonewall, Logansport, Coushatta, Martin, Arcadia, Ringgold, Gibsland, Jonesboro, Monroe, Many, Zwolle, Pleasant Hill, Natchitoches, Winnfield, Colfax, Montgomery, Dry Prong, Clarks, Grayson, Columbia, Jena, Midway, Olla, Carthage, Nacogdoches, Center, Lufkin, San Augustine, Hemphill, and Pineland242 AM CDT Sat Aug 19 2017...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM CDTTHIS EVENING...The National Weather Service in Shreveport has issued a HeatAdvisory, which is in effect from 10 AM this morning to 7 PM CDTthis evening. * EVENT...High pressure across the area will allow for temperatures to climb into the mid 90s this afternoon. Hot temperatures combined with sufficient low-level moisture will allow for heat index values to climb to around 105 to 108 degrees across the advisory area.* TIMING...Heat index values will approach 105 degrees by late morning and persist through the afternoon into the early evening hours.* IMPACT...Precautions should be taken to prevent heat related illnesses, including limiting outdoor work activities to the late morning and early evening hours. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. Whenpossible, reschedule strenuous activities to early morning orevening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heatstroke. Wear light weight and loose fitting clothing whenpossible and drink plenty of water. to reduce risk during outdoor work, the occupational safetyand health administration recommends scheduling frequent restbreaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcomeby heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heatstroke is an emergency, call 9 1 1. a heat advisory means that a period of hot temperatures isexpected. The combination of hot temperatures and high humiditywill combine to create a situation in which heat illnesses arepossible. Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditionedroom, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives andneighbors.&&$$

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Bone Marrow Transplant gives local cancer patient more time with his family - KTBS

Fair rallies around Ratzloff after cancer diagnosis – Southernminn.com

OWATONNA Its the first time in six years that Matt Ratzloff hasnt been working as part of the Steele County Free Fair grounds crew, but hes not far from their thoughts or their hats.

Ratzloff, the grandson of longtime Fair Board member Gene Fisher, first joined the grounds crew at age 16 and returned every year since. Hes taking a break this year, though, for a very good reason: he was diagnosed in January with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and spent the first half of the year undergoing chemo, transplants and innumerable doctor visits and hospital stays, as well as being one of the featured cancer patients in this springs From The Heart Run/Walk in Owatonna.

He says its a little weird this year not being out on the fairgrounds with his former coworkers.

I was on the grounds crew for about five years, and grew really close with a lot of these guys, and through grounds crew, got really close with the fair board as well, Ratzloff said. Grounds crew was kind of my summer job when I was in college.

Instead, Ratzloff is only recently returned home from Rochester, where he received a stem cell transplant in June. Normally, he says, doctors want patients to stay close at hand in case of complications for 100 days after such a procedure. In his case, he was able to return home on day 45.

Since then, its just been keeping a close watch on my body, going in for weekly checkups and just trying to recuperate from everything thats happened, he said.

His friends at the fair havent forgotten him. Each year, the grounds crew receives a t-shirt for that years fair, and this years shirt includes a cancer ribbon as the I in the word FIGHT as well as Ratzloffs initials. And his grandfather, Fisher, and fellow fair board member Scott Kozelka went even further, supplying the crew with hats embroidered with Ratzloffs nickname, Ratz.

Throughout all this, the fair has been very supportive of my journey as well, Ratzloff said. Im very fortunate to have these guys.

Fisher said the entire fair community, even extending into the vendors and carnival workers, have rallied around his grandson.

You cant ask for more out of a community than how they treated us, he said, noting hed received several donations just Friday morning from vendors to support Ratzloffs family. Its great to have that kind of community.

And even when the fair packs up on Sunday, the community will continue. Theres a benefit for Ratzloff and his family, to offset some of the considerable costs of his treatment and the months spent in Rochester, planned for next Saturday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Owatonna VFW banquet hall. Fisher said there will be live and silent auctions, food from Godfathers Pizza, and other activities, with tickets available at the door or in advance.

Ratzloff, who finished his bachelors degree in criminal justice in December and plans to re-enroll in police academy in Rochester this fall, said hes very thankful the fair has his back.

Its a little different [seeing his friends wear his name on hats], but Im very supported in what the fair has done for me, he said. I wish one day Ill be able to repay all of these people, but its tough to.

William Morris is a reporter for the Owatonna Peoples Press. He can be reached at 444-2372; follow him on Twitter @OPPWilliam

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Fair rallies around Ratzloff after cancer diagnosis - Southernminn.com

‘It’s been a nightmare’ | Couple stranded after medical emergency – WXIA-TV

Phillip Kish and Kaitlyn Ross , WXIA 6:37 PM. EDT August 18, 2017

An Atlanta man stranded in California after a serious illness is trying to get back home to spend his final days with his family.

Everything has been thrown into question for the Long family ever since Jeff Long got seriously ill during an experimental treatment in Mexico.

The Long family was running out of options after Jeff Long was diagnosed with ALS in 2014 and degenerative Lyme disease in 2015. Their doctor suggested they try an embryonic stem cell treatment only approved in Mexico.

He's been to heck and back, it's been a nightmare, a nightmare for him, Stacy Long, Jeff's wife, said.

In Mexico, Jeff came down with pneumonia and had to transfer to a hospital in San Diego. He's now so sick, doctors will only release him through a medical flight, which costs $22,300.

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The Longs depend on Medicare after Stacy quit her job to care for Jeff full time.

We've both always worked, up until he was disabled, he was a hard worker, always paid our insurance, Stacy Long said. And then when you really badly need it, where's it at?

Stacy said they can't pay for the flight; they're already broke from the experimental treatment.

"If it works, great, if it doesn't, we tried, but never did I imagine in my wildest dreams we would be where we are, ever, she said.

They say they want nothing more than to get back to Atlanta to have the support of their family, but right now, there's no possible way for them to afford it.

Provided by family

It's been so heartbreaking to see him go through this when he wants to go home so badly, Stacy Long said.

For a week, their dog, Elmo, kept Jeff company in the hospital in California, but Jeffs mother had to pick Elmo up.

He can't go back on the medical flight with us, Stacy Long said.

The Longs say their medical insurance refuses to pay to get Jeff home from California, but if they had purchased travel insurance, they would have been covered.

Its such a sad thing, and I don't even know how much travel insurance costs, but if you're in a position like we are, it would be worth it, every cent, Stacy Long said.

Provided by family

Stacy Long says she didn't know much about travel insurance before they went to Mexico.

Especially with his condition, I would have purchased that, she said.

The Longs have a GoFundMe page. For information on how to donate, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/teamlongals-com

2017 WXIA-TV

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'It's been a nightmare' | Couple stranded after medical emergency - WXIA-TV

Global Stem Cells Group Signs An Agreement With Recell Centro … – Digital Journal

Help people suffering from cancer, establishes opportunities for patients to increase the quality of their lives and will be able to extend the life expectancy

New treatment adds years to cancer diagnoses and quality of life during final years.

Global Stem Cells Group, a global network of doctors, researchers, and students that work together to share information and advancements in the study of stem cell develop and extraction today, this week made a very strategic and important agreement with Recell Centro Clinica, Dr. Ramon Gutierrez in Santiago de Chile.

The agreement, which will provide doctors around the world with protocols that help people suffering from cancer, establishes opportunities for patients to increase the quality of their lives and will be able to extend the life expectancy of those living out their final years battling cancer.

The potential for stem cell integration and advancements with regards to cancer are tremendous, said Dr. Benito Novas, Founder and Owner of Global Stem Cells Group. We are honored to be working with such a regarded institution today, and are confident that our knowledge and infrastructure behind stem cell development will complement Recells cancer research.

To complement the agreement, Global Stem Cells Group and Recell Clinica will be holding their first training this November 10, 2017. The two-day training program will provide doctors with the ability to learn cellular immunotherapy and how it can be implemented with cancer patients. The program will wrap up by going over the protocols necessary to administer the immunotherapy, and equips each student with real-life knowledge and expertise moving forward.

As a clinic that is passionate about providing our patients with a cutting edge chance at survival past a cancer diagnosis, we look forward to our collaboration with Global Stem Cells Group, said Dr. Ramon Gutierrez.

Recell Clinica is the only private clinic in the eighth Latin American region that has an integrated pathological anatomy unit that guarantees full traceability of procedures.

For more information, call +1 305-560-5337 or send an email to info@stemcellsgroup.com.

About Global Stem Cells Group

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Global Stem Cells Group Signs An Agreement With Recell Centro ... - Digital Journal

Former Hollywood Stuntman Raising $10,000 For His Stem Cell … – DNAinfo

Len Richard (left) and actor Terrance Howard on the set of "Empire" in 2015. View Full Caption

Provided by Len Richard

CHICAGO Len Richard used to fight in movie scenes as a stuntman, but now hes fighting for his life.

Diagnosed with liver disease in 2009, hes been placed on the liver and kidney transplant list to replace his rapidly failing organs. Hes opted to have stem cell replacement therapy in place of the transplant, but his insurance wont cover it, so hes raising $10,000 through YouCaring.

The 44-year-old Englewood native said hes desperate to live a healthy life and doesnt want to risk trying the transplant. Theres the fear that the new organs wont work for long and hell constantly get sick from the anti-rejection medications hell have to take, he said.

Once I understood how stem cell works and how it cures people, it was a no-brainer, Richard said. I rather do that than have someone's organs.

More than 5,000 liver transplants in the United States take place each year, according to the "Stem Cell Therapy for Liver Diseases," a review article published in the Journal of Stem Cell Research and Therapy. About 20,000 people are waiting for a transplant, but only 7,000 procedures are performed each year, and up to 1,500 patients die each year waiting.

Use of stem cells to cure liver diseases has been proved beneficial in most of the conditions, according to the article. Scientific literature reveals the role of stem cells in treatment and cure of various diseases like liver cirrhosis, end stage liver failure, genetic liver disease and also the liver cancer. The stem cells possess the ability to renew and multiply by them or stem cells possess special characteristics of regenerating themselves.

Besides being hospitalized twice in eighth grade for a high fever and an enlarged liver and spleen, Richard has lived a fairly healthy life, he said. He had no major health problems in high school or college.

As an adult, he worked behind the scenes in the control room at Channel 50, before moving to Los Angeles in 1998 for a similar television job. Thats when his life changed.

He was at a gym working out and got invited to train with a group who worked as stuntmen, he said.

A stunt coordinator saw me and said that I looked like Omar and Cuba Gooding, Richard said. He hired me for 'Baby Boy.' Thats how I got into doing stunts.

That job led to other jobs in major films, including "Barbershop" and "Transformers."

Everything was going well for Richard, he said, until 2008 when he tore his rotator cuff during filming for the movie "First Sunday," starring Ice Cube and Katt Williams.

I had surgery, and the person I was seeing at the time noticed that I started losing weight and was going to the bathroom a lot, Richard said.

When he went to the doctor for a routine checkup, he learned that he was diabetic. The doctor reviewed his medical history and asked if he has ever been evaluated for a liver transplant.

In 1987, when he was 13, he mysteriously became ill, he said. He was in the hospital for a high fever and the doctors noticed that his liver and spleen were enlarged, but didnt know why. He was sent home only to return a few days later.

I spent the whole summer in the hospital, Richard said. They did exploratory abdominal surgery and took a sample of all of my organs. They sent it to the CDC and other labs and came back with nothing.

Now that hes on the transplant list, Richard is hoping that hes able to raise enough money to travel to see a doctor in Mexico who was recommended by another patient and have the alternative procedure instead.

I want to avoid the transplant and keep my organs, Richard said.

He said he misses his old life, although he did more recently work on the show "Empire." Hes on disability now, but wants to return to work and the gym.

I was always in the gym, used to go hiking a lot, but now I work out when I feel like it, he said. I have low energy, and its kind of hard right now. I'll ride a bike and try to do air squats, but I was doing crossfit before it became too much for me.

Nobody wants to be sick. Id like to be back in California, moving around. I just get tired of going to doctor, getting poked and having having them tell me I need a transplant. Its mentally draining, and it's scary.

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Former Hollywood Stuntman Raising $10,000 For His Stem Cell ... - DNAinfo

Stem Cell Transplant Program Celebrates First Year – Newswise – Newswise (press release)

Newswise The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center began helping New Mexicans with blood disorders a little more than one year ago. Since then, more than 30 New Mexicans have received treatment. Program Director Matthew Fero, MD, FACP, started the program after moving to New Mexico from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Wash.

The UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center program is the states only bone marrow transplant program. It includes a nurse manager, nurse coordinator, a social worker, a pharmacist, infusion nurses, and an inpatient team. Bone marrow transplantation needs a multidisciplinary team because of the complexity in coordinating care, says Fero. The teams Nurse Manager, Maria Limanovich, says the team follows each person from the beginning of bone marrow transplant treatment through completion. According to Fero, the program is growing and is in the process of hiring two more doctors and an advanced practice provider.

The UNM Bone Marrow Transplant program offers treatment choices for people with lymphoma and myeloma and will expand to help people with other blood disorders. Almost 1,000 New Mexicans receive a blood cancer diagnosis each year, according to American Cancer Society estimates.

Fero and his team currently perform autologous transplants. Autologous bone marrow transplantation is the process of taking bone marrow stem cells out of a patient and then infusing them back in after the patient receives high dose therapy, says Fero. This allows us to use treatments that would otherwise harm the bone marrow.

Bone marrow, the soft reddish material that fills the inside of our bones, produces millions of new blood cells each second. These millions of cells come from a tiny number of bone marrow stem cells. These stem cells are special because they can mature into all of the different types of cells in the blood. These are the cells doctors collect for a transplant.

Because bone marrow is a liquid organ, Fero says, it can pass through an IV [intravenous] line. Doctors rarely need to take stem cells directly out of the bone, Fero explains. They use drugs to coax bone marrow stem cells into the bloodstream. From there, the blood travels through an IV line into an apheresis machine that sorts the stem cells out and returns the rest of the blood. The experience is like donating blood at a blood bank.

Once stem cells are safely stored out of the bloodstream, doctors use high-dose chemotherapy to eradicate the remaining cancer. When chemotherapy is out of their system, the patients stem cells are reinfused. The reinfusion process is similar to a blood transfusion. Once reinfused, stem cells find their way back to bone marrow where they begin to grow and make new blood cells.

Autologous bone marrow transplants are standard treatments for lymphoma and myeloma. This treatment works very well against aggressive lymphomas. In this case the goal is to cure the disease, says Fero. Autologous bone marrow transplants extend the lives of people with myeloma and gives them a better quality of life, too. Fero says, Were offering another option for their treatment.

Matthew Fero, MD, FACP, is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, at the UNM School of Medicine. He serves as Director of the Bone Marrow Stem Cell Program at the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Fero received his medical degree from the University of California, Irvine, and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. He completed a medical fellowship in Medical Oncology at University of Washington and a research fellowship at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. His research focuses on the molecular bases of cancer and translating new technologies into improved cancer diagnostics and novel therapies.

The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of New Mexico and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in a 500-mile radius. Its 125 board-certified oncology specialty physicians include cancer surgeons in every specialty (abdominal, thoracic, bone and soft tissue, neurosurgery, genitourinary, gynecology, and head and neck cancers), adult and pediatric hematologists/medical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, and radiation oncologists. They, along with more than 500 other cancer healthcare professionals (nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, navigators, psychologists and social workers), provided cancer care for nearly 60 percent of the adults and children in New Mexico affected by cancer. They treated 11,249 patients in 84,875 ambulatory clinic visits in addition to in-patient hospitalizations at UNM Hospital. These patients came from every county in the State. More than 12 percent of these patients participated in cancer clinical trials testing new cancer treatments and 35 percent of patients participated in other clinical research studies, including tests of novel cancer prevention strategies and cancer genome sequencing. The 130 cancer research scientists affiliated with the UNMCCC were awarded almost $60 million in federal and private grants and contracts for cancer research projects and published 301 high quality publications. Promoting economic development, they filed more than 30 new patents in FY16, and since 2010, have launched 11 new biotechnology start-up companies. Scientists associated with the UNMCCC Cancer Control & Disparities have conducted more than 60 statewide community-based cancer education, prevention, screening, and behavioral intervention studies involving more than 10,000 New Mexicans. Finally, the physicians, scientists and staff have provided education and training experiences to more than 230 high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral fellowship students in cancer research and cancer health care delivery. Learn more at http://www.cancer.unm.edu.

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Stem Cell Transplant Program Celebrates First Year - Newswise - Newswise (press release)