Wednesday, 27 April 2016 - 13:00
Stem cell treatment gives Dutch MS patient ability to walk again
A revolutionary stem cell treatment in Sweden forever changed the live of MS patient Boaz Spermon. After two months of treatment in a Swedish hospital, the 32 year old Den Bosch man was able to walk out of the hospital. Walk out, without the wheelchair he'd been bound to for eight months.
Spermon will never forget walking out of that hospital, he said to Omroep Brabant. "It was really special. I never thought I'd walk out by myself after two months of treatment."
Spermon was the first Dutch person to be selected for this life saving treatment in Sweden. Over the past two months his immune system was wiped out with chemotherapy and rebuilt with a transplant of his own stem cells. The treatment itself is very dangerous and Boaz had to be physically strong enough to survive it.
"I owe everything particularly to my perseverance", he said to the broadcaster. A doctor gave him a confidence boost by telling him that he'd walk again. "And it work, a dream scenario came true."
Next week Bosch will return to Den Bosch, where he will follow an intensive rehabilitation program at the Jeroen Bosch Hospital. He hopes that by August he'll be able to live by himself again.
Spermon was diagnosed with MS about four years ago. MS (Multiple Sclerosis) is a disease of the central nervous system which affects the brain and spinal chord. Common symptoms include eye problems, loss of strength and coordination problems.