COVER STORY: Biocellular Therapies On Forefront of Regenerative Medicine

Therapy Can Reverse Age-Related Disease

ABOVE VIDEO: Cynthia and Charles Boyd talk about their life-changing results cutting-edge stem cell research and treatment By Dr. Brian Dowdell at BioCellular Therapies. “I got my life back,” said Cynthia Boyd. “I’m dancing like crazy now. I’m not in pain. I feel better than I’ve felt in years.”

SPACE COAST DAILY COVER STORY

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – When BioCellular Therapies opened its office in Melbourne a year ago, BioCellular Therapies President Jim Eaker thought the majority of patients would be weekend warriors looking for relief from nagging back pain.

Indeed, the warriors arrived en masse from throughout Central Florida and as far away as Canada, but so did folks with age-related orthopedic and spinal problems.

However, the wide scope of BioCellular Therapies’ patient demographics isn’t really that surprising, for the nature of the treatment is attractive to anyone whose quality of life has suffered because of pain from osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease and sports-related injuries.

The treatment is easy, pain-free, without down time and yet with almost immediate results. Why wouldn’t anyone not want it?

The concept behind the science of regenerative medicine – also known as stem cell therapy – is the human body’s own ability to make things right for itself.

“Our bodies can self-heal,” said Eaker. “Controlling the command center of the healing process produces optimal conditions for the body to self-heal.”

The treatment consists of painlessly harvesting cells from the patient’s own bone marrow, typically from the hip or shin, pairing these cells with an organic catalyst for an additional regenerative punch and injecting these super-cells back into the patient.

Once in position at the injured tissue, the powerful cell conglomerate gets to work in earnest to get things back to the way they once were.

Regenerative cells, undifferentiated cells found in bone marrow, turn into other types of cells to become “repair” cells that promote healing, be it in the bone, muscle, cartilage ligament and tendons.

Upon arrival at the injured tissue, these regenerative cells assume the characteristics of the host tissue. These cells are hard, fast workers indeed, and it doesn’t take long for patients to experience their handiwork.

“A lot of patients see improvement right away,” said Eaker.

Patient Testimonials Abound

Cynthia Boyd is one of those patients who experienced immediate improvement. In fact, the Cocoa Beach resident regained her dancing feet, thanks to BioCellular Therapies.

“I got my life back,” said Boyd. “I’m dancing like crazy now. I’m not in pain. I feel better than I’ve felt in years.”

Boyd, who adores ballroom dancing with husband Charles, had given up on her passion because of her arthritic pain in her spine, coupled with spinal stenosis.

“I could barely walk, much less dance,” she said. “I couldn’t sleep at night and nobody seemed able to help me.”

She had done the rounds of specialists to no avail until she approached spine specialist Dr. Brian Dowdell at BioCellular Therapies.

“I was in such bad shape, nobody knew where to start,” she said. “I was told I was just getting old.”

Dr. Dowdell knew stem cell therapy could prove highly beneficial for Boyd. He was right.

“Immediately after the treatment, it just got better and it continues to get better,” said Boyd. “My life just hasn’t stopped improving.”

Boyd is now back to waltzing through life and she is able to dance, not to mention do the rest of her living, without pain.

Significant Pain Reduction

Like Cynthia Boyd, Dr. Joseph Slattery knows first-hand the improvement possible with BioCellular Therapies.

A former hockey player, Slattery needed a hip replaced because of injuries acquired on the ice rink. He underwent a traditional hip replacement on the right hip, but opted for stem cell therapy on the left.

“I got significant pain reduction and it has allowed me to become active again,” said the Indian Harbour Beach physician, who was heading to the ski slopes in early December.

Unfortunately, not every patient is a likely candidate for stem cell therapy. The journey back to normalcy for patients begins with an initial consultation with Eaker.

“We educate the patient on the stem cell process and we discuss their individual situation,” he said.

If the patient is deemed a likely candidate for stem cell therapy, he or she is then referred to Dr. Dowdell for back problems or Dr. John Hermansdorfer, who specializes in issues concerning the upper and lower extremities.

Biocellular Therapies Team On Forefront of Regenerative Medicine

While other options exist in regenerative medicine, BioCellular Therapies offers treatment that is above the rest.

The more cells used to heal, the better, so BioCellular Therapies delivers millions versus thousands of these cells to the injured tissue in order to optimize and further accelerate the healing process.

Many stem cell therapies depend on fat-derived stem cells versus BioCellular Therapies cells harvested from bone marrow, the richest source of regenerative cells.

BioCellular Therapies’ fluoroscopic guided injections and bone marrow aspiration are overseen by licensed orthopedic physicians.

To keep up to the minute in the technology of this rapidly blossoming field, the BioCellular Therapies team recently traveled to Panama to study at the Stem Cell Institute, the highest regarded stem cell clinic in the Western Hemisphere.

The practice is the only one in Florida to provide interstitial laser – laser treatment delivered via needle directly into the affective area – as a follow-up to stem cell therapy.

Before the advent of regenerative medicine, patients had limited options that included painful and complex surgery that, while requiring significant down time and discomfort, often did not provide a greatly improved quality of life.

Perhaps Dr. Dowdell most succinctly explains the beauty of stem cell therapy.

“I can really cure now,” he said.

BioCellular Therapies is located at 2290 W. Eau Gallie Boulevard, Suite 210-B, in Melbourne. For more information call 321-435-1505 or visit BioCellularTherapies.com

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