South Korean woman overjoyed at her progress.
These are heady days indeed.
A South Korean woman, who was paralyzed and bed-ridden for 20 years, was given a new lease on life and mobility through the use of Stem Cell therapy. After receiving an injection of stem cell into her spine, she was able to walk with the help of a walking frame(I assume there was a lot of physiotherapy between the treatment and the presentation in which she walked), which seemed to be the kind of results the late Christopher Reeve was looking for.
However, the catalyst for her recovery was not embryionic stem cells which have a long history of controversy(and some medical side effects) but rather stem cells from umbilical cord blood, which doesn't carry the same moral issues. In looking up more information on this issue, one of the sources I discovered that had a positive reaction to this development was the head of the Illinois Right to Life Committee, who doubted that the major news media would cover this story. I quote: "Will you see any coverage of this amazing success in the major media? Are they willing to cover a stem cell success that is not politically correct because it did not require use of embryonic stem cells?", which I think is a little too cynical, but then again, I haven't seen anyone really talking about this on the news either.
However, if this success is verified, I have a feeling that this type of research will be ongoing and we will be hearing more success stories soon from other institutions.