Last Updated on: 27th July 2023, 04:12 pm
Lorenzo was born in Brazil mid-November 2014 with only 28 weeks of gestation. Due to extreme prematurity, he had a brain injury called periventricular leukomalacia, which boils down to brain necrosis – as if part of his brain had died. He was admitted to the neonatal ICU for three months, using mechanical ventilation at the first 42 days of life. He had severe dysphagia, not being able to swallow for some time. After being hospitalized for months, he was discharged with a prognosis that he wouldn’t live for many years; doctors said it was a miracle he was still alive.
In the following months, Lorenzo’s family remained positive and started doing everything they were capable of to give him a better quality of life. He was constantly hospitalized – any minor cold, he had to be admitted to the hospital for several days. He was going through an intensive rehab program, his mom mentioned that he appeared to be like a doll – “Lorenzo couldn’t move any part of his body and had no trunk or head control, but we continued the therapies every day with a lot of hope”.
After some time the patient’s family noticed that there was something unusual with his behavior – every time he heard a noise or movements around him, he became more spastic and rolled his eyes. That was when his family decided to take him to a neurologist, he was only 11 months old when they found out he had developed West Syndrome – severe epilepsy due to a brain injury, in other words, every time he had an attack his neurons were being killed and his brain degenerated. Doctors said that only a stem cell treatment could help, but there was no treatment available in Brazil. Lorenzo’s mom left the doctor’s appointment hopeless, lost, trying to process all the information she had just heard from the doctor.
A couple of days later and doing some research online, Lorenzo’s mom came across Beike’s website. On the same day, she contacted the representative who promptly replied to her with all the information she needed to know. From that day, she started to prepare to come for the treatment. Their family and community got together to raise funds so Lorenzo could get the Stem Cell treatment in Thailand. They were thrilled that a lot of people responded to their cause and helped them raise the money they needed in only three months.
At the end of March 2016, they came to Thailand for the first time with confidence that this treatment could change their life. They never imagined what was to come, so they spent almost a month in Bangkok doing an intensive rehab program combined with 6 injections of Adult Stem Cells. The first results manifested by the end of the treatment when Lorenzo started to move his toes. When they went home, they slowly started to notice that Lorenzo’s epilepsy episodes have decreased. In August of the same year, they did an EEG which confirmed that he no longer had West Syndrome.
“That was one of the happiest days of my life, I knew the treatment would work, but we were not expecting this”, said Lorenzo’s mom. She got so happy that they decided to plan another visit for more stem cells since he still had seizures whenever he got sick and had a fever.
“In general, we noticed a lot of changes in his cognitive function and curing the West Syndrom disease was a blessing, but we wanted more”, the family said. With that, they came for the second treatment in December 2017 trusting in the regenerative treatment.
The second time was even better since they were already familiar and comfortable with the staff. Everyone was pleased to see the changes in Lorenzo’s body. They followed the protocol as they did for the first time and went home with high hopes and expectations.
This treatment changed our lives. It’s been almost two years that we don’t need to run to the hospital in the middle of the night, his body, in general, has improved and he is even saying a couple of words. We are glad that we could provide this treatment to our son, we are looking forward to going again
In March 2018, Lorenzo got sick and had to be hospitalized for weeks. He had another episode of epilepsy due to a high fever. His family was worried but had no clue that the seizure he had would be the last episode. Fortunately, since then, Lorenzo hasn’t had any seizures, even if he gets sick with high fever, this little fighter is completing 22 months without an episode this January 2020 and we are delighted to be part of his achievements.
