Jamie and Carson’s Hope

Monday, 18 June 2007
Source: The Expositor

Changes in Jamie Huelin are subtle since she received stem-cell treatment to battle the Batten Disease that’s robbing her of life, but the small improvements give her parents hope.

The Brantford five-year-old and her mother, Lori Keeping, returned in late February from China, where Jamie had surgery at a Beijing hospital. The four-hour procedure involved injecting 10 million stem cells into the youngster’s brain through a tiny hole in her skull. Doctors, feeling the disease was taking a greater toll on the right side of her body, injected the cells on the left side of the brain. Ten days later, the family was back at its Osborn Avenue home. Doctors told them it could take days, weeks, or even years, to see any benefits from the stem cells.

Then, in April, Jamie’s brother, Carson, who also suffers from Batten Disease, was offered the chance to be part of a research project at a U.S. hospital. The family cannot reveal many details about Carson’s treatment, including the location of the hospital, partly because of political and ethical controversy surrounding stem-cell treatment in the United States.

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