In the suburbs of Bangkok, there is a little 3-year-old boy who lives there. He stands up from the carpet and walks towards the bulletin board on the wall. The boy enjoys drawing with an orange pen before returning to his original seat. “We are very happy,” said Mrs. Sumalee Thammasombatdee, a 35-year-old mother. “Just two or three days ago, we had to constantly encourage Phol to walk, but he could barely manage 10 steps,” she added with a smile.
A Boy of Dreams
While the interview was taking place, Phol was toddling around with a broad smile. The little boy happily played with a toy phone, wrote on the board, and helped his sister color in a book. It’s hard to believe that just a month ago, he couldn’t walk or play like this.
Phol was born in October 2006 through an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure. Mrs. Sumalee shared, “We already had two daughters and wanted a son to complete our family. We were overjoyed when we found out we were expecting a boy.” At that time, Sumalee planned for a C-section delivery, and the baby appeared healthy and robust at birth.
Despite being a charming and well-cared-for child, Mrs. Sumalee was still worried that her son couldn’t sit up at 7 months old. She told us, “The doctor said not to worry as some children develop slower than others.” However, when he reached 1 year old and still couldn’t sit up, it became clear that something was wrong. She continued, “He is such a lovely boy, and we don’t want this disability to become a stigma for him.”
At first, no one knew what caused the problem. It took doctors 8 months to diagnose the condition as congenital physical and cerebral impairment. The delay was due to the need for thorough examinations of the spine, bones, and various other factors to rule out possible causes of the inability to walk. Patients with congenital physical and cerebral impairment (CP) exhibit a wide range of symptoms, making it difficult to diagnose through initial examinations.
Common Symptoms
Congenital physical and cerebral impairment can cause various disabilities, often leading to spasms. The severity of CP can range from mild to severe. Some children with CP may appear normal but respond slower than other children. Around 20% of them may have mental health issues. Although these children may have abnormalities in movement control, expression, and response to stimuli, most patients appear normal, leading many to mistakenly believe they have low intelligence. In reality, some of them are quite smart.
Dr. Konstantinos Papadopoulos, the Operations Director of Thai StemLife Co., Ltd., or Dr. Kostas for short, said, “Cerebral palsy is a condition resulting from underdeveloped brains, either before or after birth. It is more common when complications arise during delivery, and many believe that oxygen deprivation and infections are contributing factors. However, there are many cases where the cause remains unknown. CP leads to abnormal motor skills, resembling symptoms of seizures or paralysis. The condition is more common than one might think, affecting 1 in 500 newborns, and in premature infants, it occurs in 1 in 3. Additionally, 20% of children with CP have mental health issues, often in premature infants.”
In Phol’s case, he looked like any other 3-year-old, except for weak leg muscles caused by spastic paralysis. Doctors said that there is no cure for this condition, and the only hope is physical therapy to prevent muscle degeneration. Following this advice, Phol received physical therapy twice a week at the hospital and practiced walking at home daily. Despite the therapy, Phol could only manage to walk 10 steps with the help of special shoes, showing only slight improvement.
Luckily, Phol’s family owns a business, allowing Mrs. Sumalee to work while taking care of her son and taking him to the hospital for therapy. The parents also set up a space in their office for Phol, allowing his mother to play with him and practice walking. Mr. Kitikorn, Sumalee’s husband, told us, “My wife works just 2 hours a day.” When at home, Sumalee’s relatives help take care of their two daughters after school, understanding that Phol needs special attention from both parents.
Investing in the Future
To prepare for the challenges of CP, Sumalee and Kitikorn consulted with doctors and researched cerebral palsy on the internet. They discovered a new technique that had shown promising results in a boy in Bangkok with symptoms similar to Phol’s. All they knew was that after 18 months, the boy began walking, swimming, and trying to run. They also learned that the boy’s parents had stored stem cells from the placenta and umbilical cord at birth.
Storing stem cells from the placenta and umbilical cord is a common practice among parents delivering at hospitals that offer this service. A certain amount of blood is collected from the umbilical cord at birth, processed, and stored in a stem cell bank indefinitely. Cord blood is rich in stem cells, which can aid in fetal development. “Stem cell technology can treat various illnesses, including thalassemia, heart disease, and diabetic ulcers,” said Dr. Kostas.
Phol’s father said, “We were lucky to have stored Phol’s stem cells from the placenta and umbilical cord at birth. My sister recommended it because she did the same for her son.” “At first, we didn’t know what the benefits would be, but comparing the cost of lifelong blood storage to 130,000 baht, we felt it was worth it. We thought it might be useful in the future if something happened to our son, and I didn’t know we would need to use those stem cells within 3 years after birth,” added Sumalee.
Sumalee and her husband sought advice from specialized doctors at the cord blood bank and contacted families of other children treated with this method. When Kitikorn was confident in the safety of this treatment, they decided to proceed, knowing that the technique was still experimental but had shown significant improvement in over 100 patients.
The entire process took 10 days, as Phol needed to receive certain medications beforehand, but the actual treatment lasted only 10 minutes. It involved injecting 30 milliliters (about 2 tablespoons) of stem cells from the placenta and umbilical cord into Phol’s veins. “After the injection, Phol watched TV and laughed at cartoons. His doctor kept him in the ICU for observation overnight. He experienced some itching during the night but was back to normal by morning,” Sumalee said.
“Stem cell treatments from placental and umbilical cord blood first emerged in the United States before spreading to Europe and Asia. Currently, this treatment is still in the human trial phase, and no official reports have been published on its effects. However, children who have undergone this treatment seem to stand on their own feet faster than with traditional physical therapy, which can sometimes take 8 to 9 years before noticeable improvement,” Dr. Kostas explained.
Keep Walking Forward!
“The results we saw after just one week of treatment were very encouraging,” said Phol’s mother. “He used to dislike and ignore walking, but after the treatment, he became more alert and interested in his surroundings. Now he speaks clearly too.”
The mother is holding her son upright with one arm, pointing to both of his feet. “Look, his feet are now aligned like normal feet. He no longer needs special walking shoes. Previously, his left leg had issues, but now it’s fine. While his legs may still not be completely strong, we are happy and would be thrilled if he improves enough to walk on his own and go to school like other children.”
Dr. Kostas reassured Sumalee, saying, “I know that Phol may not be 100% cured, but I hope it’s enough to help him lead a normal life and build a future.” Sumalee concluded.
