Councillor going to California for stem cell therapy
CAMBRIDGE — Shannon Adshade is walking. That, doctors tell him, is a miracle.
But, two years after his neck “exploded” and thrust him into a life of sudden paralysis followed by spinal surgery and endless hours of physio, the 55-year-old city councillor and former English teacher to young offenders in Waterloo wants more than to stroll carefully in hidden agony.
A little ease of movement would soothe his rising frustrations.
“If I walk for a while, it feels like I ran a marathon,” Adshade said on Thursday as he prepared for a physio session in the pool at the Cambridge Y. “I want to be able to just walk and not be in pain all the time and so tired with muscle soreness. That would be wonderful.”
He’s not asking to resume his slo-pitch career at shortstop or birdie-smashing exploits in badminton. He just seeks some relief, to be able to dress and shower and do routine things in relative comfort.
So, next month, he’ll go to Irvine, Calif.
“I’m going to try some stemcell therapy,” Adshade said. “I’m hoping. It’s not proven. But I’m just kind of desperate. My quality of life is not that great right now, so I really want to give it a shot.”
The shot — his own stem cells will be fed into his system intravenously in three sessions six weeks apart starting Aug. 8 — will be expensive. He expects the treatments, at Giostar Institute of Regenerative Medicine, will cost $30,000 to $40,000. OHIP will not cover it, he said.
The money will come out of his own pocket. He’ll pay it. He did the research. Adshade, who is on long-term disability, read some testimonials of stem-cell patients who said their stem-cell treatment made a difference.
The treatment may ease the torment of the constant inflammation. It may even help the injured area recover. The best time to go was yesterday.
“I just hope it’s not too late,” he said. “They say the sooner after the injury you have it, the better your chances at getting recovery from it. A couple of years is pushing it.”
What choice does he have but to push it? His remarkable recovery, fuelled by six physio sessions a week, has hit a hard wall for the six-foot-one former hockey goalie and Glenview Park Secondary School linebacker.
Doctors tell him he may have maxed out his miracle. “They’ve more or less said I’m not going to get any better,” said Adshade, who can also drive a car for short distances. “I had two years to get back on my feet. I thought I made such great progress.”
And he expected more progress to follow. Maybe he wanted his old go all the time cab-driving lifestyle back. Going slow was never his choice.
Three Aprils ago, Adshade collapsed suddenly in the shower. Maybe all those tough tackles and twisting Mike Palmateer saves took a toll on his spinal cord. His neck was a tangled trunk of arthritis and bone chips.
A surgeon sorted through the knotted mess and fused his threefour-five discs to ease the strain on his crumpled-accordion spinal cord. Adshade knows he’s lucky to be alive. He’s fortunate to walk again.
But his recovery went so well, he had mapped out something better than his current painful, ponderous stroll from the old city hall elevator to his seat on the council horseshoe. Physio has left him dog-paddling in the water.
“I’m just kind of maintaining,” he said.
Adshade has filed to run again for his city council seat in the fall. Two others, Peter Renco and Kurt Ditner, have filed to run against him. Adshade said he loves the job he won in a “twovote landslide” in 2014. But oldstyle campaigning is no longer an option for him.
“I’m hoping people think I’ve done a good job and realize I can’t be out there knocking on doors,” Adshade said.
But in California, he sees hope. He dreams stem-cell therapy will allow his recovery to take more strides that physio can’t.
“I’m really praying it will.”