Sisters to get stem-cell treatment in China
By THANE BURNETT -- Toronto Sun

When the Deering sisters fly out of Toronto for China on Sunday morning, they will leave their limitations behind.

Each telling detail has now been carefully documented by one of the country's top neurosurgeons -- as a possible yardstick for things to come.

No one -- not doctors at the Beike Biotechnology clinic who will treat them both with millions of stem cells, and not their nervous mom and dad, who will be there to hold their now weak hands -- can predict whether the pair, paralyzed in a 2004 car crash, will improve over the next month.

But any triumph, no matter how small, and by either Erica or Shannon Deering, will be charted by Dr. Charles Tator, a celebrated neurosurgeon.

This week Erica and Shannon were tested by Tator at Toronto Western Hospital to set the markers before they undergo the stem-cell procedures they can't yet get in North America. Tator, a Dr. Jonas Salk Prize Winner, is a pioneer in head and spinal injuries.

While Tator could not be reached for comment yesterday, a spokesman confirmed the doctor spent 45 minutes with each girl, looking at what they are capable of doing. Combing through their medical histories -- almost mirrors of one another -- he will know what advances they've made on their own through hard physical rehabilitation, and be able to judge any differences to come.

VIDEO TESTAMENTS

When the girls fly back home in mid-January, they will be retested by his team over six weeks.

As more and more Canadians, American, Australians and British citizens seek out experimental stem-cell therapies in countries like China, the patients themselves are becoming test subjects. Those left behind, who also suffer from a host of ailments and broken parts, watch video testaments and pore over blogs written during treatment.

They are looking for signs their own situations might get better.

But among many Western doctors, there remain skepticism and questions about how much healing takes place.

"That's what we hope to answer," says the girl's father, Tony Deering.

"We want them to evaluate before and after.

"We've put out the challenge to the medical profession (in Canada). Let's see if this really works."

Tony and his daughters believe -- hope -- the stem cells will help prompt their bodies to repair some of the damaged tissue in their broken backs.

How the stem cells, in this case culled from umbilical cords, might be able to do that is hotly debated, even among Chinese doctors who perform the procedures.

PHOTOS OF CRASH

For the sisters, everything -- including risks, benefits and the future -- is in question.

Though their past and present is certain.

A reminder of how their world has changed is documented on the walls of their basement family room. On one side are the team posters and medals earned by Shannon during her pre-accident days of playing baseball.

On an opposite wall are hung two other pictures: One is of the car before the crash. The other is of the bent and twisted metal after their worlds snapped and broke.

The Deerings have heard of stunning results, including Streetsville mom Cheryl Paget, who also suffers from a broken back, and who returned home last Sunday from China, enthused about new-found abilities. There seems to be no overall result. Cheryl speaks about small and important mercies -- more energy, better appetite and being able to will her legs to move like never before.

"If I can just get back some of my finger movement," says Shannon, as she wheels around their Port Perry home, packing numerous suitcases and boxes. "That would be enough."

But she and her sister know they may both see different results, and no matter what happens, there will be debate in medical circles back in Canada.

So Tator has set the official benchmarks.

The results will not only be watched by the Deering family, but, as well, by more than 1,000 of their countrymen -- from the Maritimes to Vancouver -- who have helped pay the $128,000 tab to get their girls, their nurses and their mom and dad over to China for a month.

"We saw something very bad happen -- but from it, we've seen the best of people," says Tony, standing in his kitchen -- things yet to pack spread all around.

"The letters and e-mails and people putting their hands out to us.

"It's filled me with (a belief) that people are good."

DONORS DOCUMENTED

The girl's grandmother, Jean Deering, has carefully documented the names and information of every person who has donated. Each one is printed neatly and will be placed in a book of memories.

Many signed on because of the countless columns by fellow Toronto Sun columnist Mark Bonokoski, who has almost become an adopted part of the family.

"At the beginning, I thought it would be one page," Jean says of the honour roll of supporters, holding up sheet after sheet of a long yellow ledger.

"But it kept going. People kept donating."

The girls, and their family, believe those hearts will be on board when they get on their plane on Sunday morning. That they have come to represent a larger hope.

They know there is no sure promise of better days found in China. But they've promised themselves that it won't be just wishful thinking that they come back with.

They're putting themselves -- their broken bodies -- to the test.

Their limitations will sit waiting for them here on a doctor's chart.

Beginning in three days, it will be up to a rare science to help push them beyond those tragic restraints.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2006/12/08/2687654-sun.html