Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Global Stem Cell Conference

I wish to share with you how grateful I am to have been blessed with a wonderful trip to California this past week. I have been on an emotional roller coaster…and because of this trip, was able to put so much into perspective that I truly came away from this experience knowing that Mailia will be helped and healed!

I found out over a month ago that Dr. Zannos Grekos would be presenting at the Global Stem Cell Congress in San Jose, Ca. on Sept. 12 . I knew it would be a good opportunity to meet Dr. Grekos and his team face to face where I could spend some good quality time with them going over Mailia’s past and current medical status, and in doing so…finding out what procedures would be involved and discerning the processes and planning that would bring all this to fruition.


After watching his presentation at the conference with 7 other stem cell experts from around the globe, I met with Dr. Grekos and his team from Regenocyte and quickly summed them up to be genuinely helpful, caring, concerned for Mailia and motivated to help, guide and assist us as best they can. They did not offer any guarantees in this process, making sure that we knew the risks involved, as with any procedure.



Nancy Trombino, Director of Patient Services, me and Dr. Zannos Grekos, Director of Cardiology & Vascular Disease

I was informed that Dr. Grekos has a great staff of doctors and specialists in the Dominican Republic lined out for Mailia and will be with us every step of the way.

I also had the opportunity while there to meet with a couple of Dr. Grekos heart and lung patients. One was Nahla and her 10 year old son Cal, whose condition is similar to Mailia’s and I was thrilled to see how good he looked and felt, post stem cell treatment 5 months now.




They were there to have Cal undergo a procedure to close the hole in his heart…an ASD. Although he is not considered Eisenmenger’s like Mailia, he still had high pulmonary pressures (pulmonary hypertension). This past Wednesday, Cal was finally operated on in San Francisco…and sitting here on pins and needles, waiting for news of a positive outcome was not easy.

But it came! By the grace of God and a lot of prayers from so many folks, he did great and his lung pressures came down! This I believe, is a testament on how the stem cell treatment and corrective heart surgery has changed Cal’s life and that of his family.

I also had the opportunity to briefly visit with another young patient of Dr. Grekos with a similar condition to Mailia’s and she also, is doing much better now.

Culminating this incredible trip was connecting with the heart surgeon that we referred to Cal’s parents that we hope will complement as well, the Dr. Grekos stem cell therapy and journey for Mailia. His name is Dr. Michael Black, Chief of Cardio Thoracic Surgery at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.



He like Dr. Batista, who we wrote of on Mailia’s web site…is a true pioneer of medicine. I mentioned to him that Dr. Batista has had several roadblocks impeding the completion of his hospital in Brazil and that we needed to find a surgeon here in the states that would espouse his recommended treatment for Mailia and get her surgically corrected soon after her stem cell procedures. We are grateful he has agreed to take Mailia on as his future patient.

Dr. Black had just operated on a little boy that Sunday morning…4 hours prior to my conversation with him. He is 24/7…dedicated to helping and serving. An intelligent and wonderful man. He told me he was going to help Mailia get better…and do everything in his power I believe, to make a difference in her life.

This trip and the connections I made that were divinely guided this past week, I am so very humbled and grateful for. So now, I am doing what any loving family member would do, and should do. I am reaching out to our network of friends, family, co-workers and strangers to ask and appeal for their help in any way that they can to help raise the funds required to get Mailia treated. Our insurance does not cover the costs associated with these therapies for reasons outlined on this web site.

Please remember that any amount or effort, no matter how big or small...helps move Mailia closer to the treatments she so desperately needs. We are so grateful and blessed for your time and energy, and wiliness to help! We also thank you for keeping her in prayer.

All our gratitude, love and blessings!








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