Adult Stem Cell Pioneer Passes Away

Last week, we at Theravitae received the sad news that David Foege, a member of Theravitae's Board of Directors passed away at the age of 63. David was not only a member of our board, he was one of our heart disease patients coming for Vescell stem cell therapy 3 times. In fact, that is the reason he was chosen to be a member of the board- he represented the patient's voice. He swore each batch of Adult Stem Cells helped improve his quality of life and wished for others to receive the same.

I had the pleasure of David's company on a few occasions and there was no doubt in my mind, he was a fighter who wasn't going to take "no" for an answer- which is the reason he kept returning to Bangkok from his home in Naples, Florida for more stem cell treatment. I imagine he kept fighting until the very end. He will be missed here at Theravitae as well as at Chao Phya Hospital with Dr. Suphachai where he was a popular patient.

His daughter, Dama, who is the creator of the World Yoga Mission recently emailed us this in honor of her father. Here it is in it's entirety-

In Memory of David John Foege
May 30, 1945 - April 18, 2009

What the following has to do with yoga?...
It has to do with my dad being one of my main sources of inspiration..& also my first teacher & my now my angelic guide...
and how he leaves a legacy that will impact and enrich many lives with stem cell therapies.

As a young child, my friends came over for a slumber party and my dad would speak softly in a guided meditations as we fell sleep. His soothing voice asked us to visualize healing light pouring in through our heads down to our feet. We giggeled then dozed off in moments. He was so gentle with us. A good guide and a good dad.

The last 30 + years, I have witnessed him make many choices with regards to his ailing health. Some I resonated with while other choices, not-at-all. Yet, he still crossed boundaries where most may have withered. Quite a few times, he signed his life away with moderate-to-high risk proceedures. He definatly set new standards and raised the bar with his go-get em drive to stay alive.

His choices and drive, fueled my mission statement to bring yoga science and technology into world communities large & small.
The proven time tested, preventative measures of ancient yoga science enriches lives & the proven adult stem cell therapies enrich lives also. Its an amazing marraige of old & new.

His influence on me has been profound and I can note with confidence that having lived so closely to a man that would simply not give up will unfurl layers of gusto inspirado in me. The days and years shall pass and I am sure to have a wellspring of Dave Foege determination.
I pray that I am able to be of great service for those that choose wellness and act as a forklift of inspiration for those that have fallen out of hope.
I intend to offer yogic technology that prevents and inspires folks to heal, to lighten up & purify from the inside/ out.
I intend to also support progressive medicine such as stem cell therapies since I saw first hand how it enhanced my dad's life over and over again as he skirted the inevitable. Please see foundation information below.
God Bless. Sat Nam, DamaDe'
____________________

Dear family and friends,
My dad, Dave passed away peacefully in the hospital
April 18, 2009 after a long and spirited battle with heart disease. He was raised in Pocahontas, Iowa and was the seventh child of Henry and Frieda Foege.

Dave’s intellect and acumen are indisputable. He was a success in his studies and in business. Dave retired to Marco Island, FL in 1990 after a successful career in Washington D.C. where he helped raise his three children. Dave showed his kids how to explore the world fearlessly and to be ever-inquisitive.

When I was in the fourth grade he received a kidney from his brother Ron. Their story was named, "A Second Chance at Life, A Brothers Love," by the local NBC news airing as a series.

His zest and pure determination to live are beyond words. With his flucuant health, our family has been in and out of hospitals with him since 1983. While sitting with him a few weeks ago receieving modern day dialysis, it dawned on me that without question he gives a whole new meaning to the word tenacious.

Throughout his years, he sauntered through many Final Jeopardys, and solved murder mysteries on Rockford Files, Hawaii 5-0 and CSI mere minutes into the storyline. In the early 80s, he loved to watch Road Runner while receiving dialysis.

What was most brilliant about Dave though was his absolute love for life and giddiness about the next adventure. Whether it was taking home the gold medal for a Belly Flop Contest
(in his 50s and competing against people half his age),
bodysurfing in Hawaii, whitewater rafting in Bali, trekking to six continents, or negotiating in fluent German entry into East Germany before The Wall came down (with wife and kids packed into an Opel), we can easily say that he lived life to its fullest and always welcomed a challenge.

Dave earned the name “Dave the Wave” from ship staff for his time spent cruising to far stretches of the globe.

In the last year of his life, he found the greatest pleasure in hugs and kisses from his granddaughter Emma Grace Foege. He is survived by his devoted angel and wife, Susan, his three children Dama, Jody, and Todd, his daughter-in-law, Lindsey, and granddaughter, Emma Grace.

Dave was, no doubt, a fighter.
He was a pioneer in the field of stem-cell research and is one of a handful of people in the world to undergo three cardiac stem-cell therapies. Both he and Susan were creative and relentless in their efforts to breach medical boundaries and live on the cutting-edge of progressive medicine.


My siblings and I have set up a fund in memory of my dad. In an effort to contribute to the cause he was so passionate about and to potentially affect the lives of many, we ask that donations be made to the “David J. Foege Fund for Non-Embryonic Stem Cell Research” at the Community Foundation of Collier County, FL. 239-649-5000.

Please view a short youtube video of my dad at a press conference in our home area, Washington D.C., at the U.S. Senate.
This followed a larger conference on the Senate lawn. He and four other stem-cell recipients were invited by Senator Brownback of Kansas in 2006 to stimulate federal funding for stem-cell research. He met with various senators, lobbyists, and reporters in support of adult (non-embryonic) stem-cell research for the benefit of diabetes, heart failure, Parkinson's, blindness, paralysis, and so many other ailments. There are dozens of articles online about my father and his mission. If you have interest in this topic, please Google his name.


Thank you for every intention, prayer, and positive thought sent our way over the past many years. Please know that they ALL helped and were gratefully received.
Let today and every day be a celebration, for that is certainly Dave’s legacy.

Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is a mystery
Today is a Gift
That is why it is called the Present


David J. Foege, may 100,000 angels be by your side. xo, Dama

VesCell Uses Adult Stem Cells Not Fetal Stem Cells

The story about the young boy from Israel who was suffering from Ataxia and had fetal stem cells implanted into him at a stem cell facility in Russia has made the headlines recently so I wanted to touch on that.

First, let me summarize the story (you can find it here). The boy was suffering from ataxia-telangiectasia, a rare incurable disease that affects 3 in 1,000,000 people. It also normally kills the patient in their teens or early 20's. This is a terrible disease in which the brain is also affected eventually causing the child to slur his speech, confine him to a wheelchair and have immune system problems. As stated above, there is no cure.

The boy's parents apparently took him to Russia where stem cells taken from aborted fetuses (women who had an abortion) were implanted into his brain. These are called Fetal Stem Cells. The fetal stem cells then apparently caused a brain tumor and scientists were able to determine that the tumor grew from the implanted fetal stem cells.

The fetal stem cells are different than our Vescell Adult Stem Cell therapy for heart disease and peripheral artery disease. VesCell only uses Adult Stem Cells taken from the patient's blood. These Adult Stem Cells are then implanted into the patient's heart, coronary arteries or peripheral arteries depending on the patient's condition. Simply put, we implant a large amount of the patient's own stem cells into the right spots so the stem cells may potentially do the most good.

Since Vescell only uses the patient's own stem cells, there is no risk of the body rejecting the stem cells or of the stem cells creating tumors.

Lost among the hoopla of this story is the fact that the tumors were benign and he still has the ataxia problem. My prayers go out to this boy and I hope he is doing better now.

10 Years of Stem Cell Science? Where's the Beef?

The University of Wisconsin just put out a press release celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Dr. James Thompson's published paper titled "Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Derived from Human Blastocysts" which according to the press release

"rocked biology - and the world - as the all-purpose stem cell and its possibilities were ushered into the limelight."

The feat was hailed as a remarkable biomedical coup, a development that would one day revolutionize transplant therapy by making unlimited amounts of cells of all types available for transplant, and as a crucible for drug discovery and window to the earliest stages of human development.

WOW! "rocked biology "ushered into the limelight" "A remarkable biomedical coup?" "a crucible and a window"? Perhaps the writer should enter a writing contest.

Reading this full press release, you would never know that during the last 10 years, tremendous discoveries have been made in the use of adult stem cells to cure or help diseases and conditions/injuries in humans. Heart disease, Peripheral Artery Disease, just to name a couple.

And this is what really caught my eye. The press release goes on to mention several "stem cell milestones"- NONE OF WHICH INVOLVE HELPING HUMANS

Here is part of the list:

• Nov. 2, 2004: California voters approve Proposition 71, which authorizes the state to spend $3 billion over ten years on embryonic stem cell research.
• Nov. 20, 2004: Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle announces that Wisconsin will invest up to $750 million over several years in biomedical research, including new building initiatives and direct support for research. The announcement is the catalyst for the development of the public-private Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.
• Oct. 3, 2005: The National Institutes of Health names WiCell as the nation's first National Stem Cell Bank.
• Jan. 1, 2006: WiCell researchers announce the development of stem cell culture media free of animal products, a development necessary to culture cells for therapy in humans.

Look at that last one- "development of stem cell culture media free of animal products" That sounds exactly like VesCell stem cell therapy- where we have been helping heart patients with our special process of stem cells since the beginning of 2005- one full year before this "milestone."!- and the technology was developed 2-3 years before that!

Ask Bob Grinstead- he will confirm this. Bob was the first person to make the journey from the United States to Bangkok to receive his adult stem cells to treat his heart disease. You can reach Bob directly at 770-354-5186 or email him at bobgrinstead@yahoo.com

While others can trumpet discoveries, breakthroughs and milestones, we at VesCell would prefer to let our adult stem cell heart patients do the talking!

Obama's Misleading Stem Cell Ad Doesn't Address Adult Stem Cell Therapy Successes

So says Don Margolis. The founder of TheraVitae, my company now, and the first adult stem cell company in the world to treat heart disease patients. Alas, Don is no longer with our adult stem cell company. However, that hasn't stopped him from speaking out on the benefits of adult stem cell therapy as he does in this recent press release.

You may have heard the recent ad by Obama, the one where the mother speaks about her child with Type I diabetes:

"My name is Jody Montgomery and my daughter Maddy was diagnosed with type 1 juvenile diabetes at age 3. Six times a day, I take her blood. Six times a day, I pray for a cure. Researchers are working hard to do just that. Our best hope is stem cell research, and that's why we support Barack Obama."

Margolis says that if you listen to that ad, the average person is led to believe that as of this time, there isn't a cure for Type I Diabetes. His point seems to be the ad misleads you (or the average Joe) into believing there is no stem cell treatment for Type 1 Diabetes. However, if you do a little research (as I did), you can find stem cell treatments for Type I Diabetes using adult stem cells (not embryonic stem cells). Dr. Burt, the famous adult stem cell doctor at Northwestern University did a study here. Dr. Burt has also successfully treated patients with autoimmune diseases as lupus, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, scleroderma and immune-mediated blindness.

Margolis also says they are treating Type I Diabetes with Adult Stem Cells in Latin America and Germany too. Margolis also suggests that Obama should check his new organization's (The Repair Stem Cell Institute) website's stem cell treatment center page, where patients with Type I Diabetes or other conditions can find stem cell therapies for their particular condition. Margolis also urges people to look at the clinical trials website, where they have the latest clinical trials in the United States using adult stem cells.

Yo Don, you failed to mention a certain adult stem cell company that is treating coronary heart disease, cardiomyopathy, and peripheral artery disease with adult stem cells. Although VesCell Adult Stem Cell Therapy is not being used to treat Diabetes at this moment, many of our heart disease patients report that their Diabetes has improved tremendously (as well as their hearts) thanks to the positive side effects of adult stem cells.

What do you think? Do you think the debate on federal funding for stem cell research (mainly embryonic stem cell research) is drawing away attention from adult stem cell treatments that are working now? What about patients right now who have incurable conditions or have fatal conditions? Can they afford to wait for a treatment or cure from embryonic stem cell research that may never come?

These questions raise more questions on the issue of stem cell research- if embryonic stem cell research is so wonderful, why does it need to be federally (tax payer) funded? Certainly, if there was big cures on the horizon (and therefore lots of money in it), wouldn't the big drug companies (like Pfizer here for adult stem cells) or private investors come up with the cash for it?

Where do you stand on this issue? I'm looking forward to reading your answers in comments.