Second stem cell treatment aids Howe
Knowing how beloved their father Gordie is within the hockey community, the Howe family chose to be very open with details of his battles with the symptoms of dementia and the debilitating effects of a stroke, including his experimental stem cell treatments.
Their openness was greeted in some corners with criticism and skepticism from members of the medical community, and since a recent New York Times Magazine article that questioned what the Howes were doing with their father, the Howes have opted to go underground as their famous father continues his treatments.
Howe had a second stem cell treatment earlier this month.
“He continues to participate in an ongoing stroke trial, and we prefer to not provide any more updates until that trial is completed,” Dr. Murray Howe, Gordie’s youngest son, said in a text.
The Howes are adamant that since their father’s first stem cell treatments in early December, he was lifted from death’s door to a place where he is able to enjoy some of the simple pleasures of life.
“Currently, dad is living with me (in Toledo) and is happy and comfortable and doing well,” Murray Howe said. “He goes for daily walks and helps out around the house. He is surrounded by friends and family and is showered with love.”
At the time the Howes opted to send their father to Tijuana, Mexico for his first round of stem cell treatments — the process is not yet FDA-approved in the United States — Gordie wasn’t eating, was bedridden and virtually incommunicative. He was disinterested in partaking in any therapy.
Doctors advised the family that their father’s time was fast running out.
The Howes figured they had nothing to lose by giving their father a chance to see what the stem cell treatments could achieve. They are delighted with evidence of even the slightest improvements they see in their father’s condition.
A process still in its infancy, stem cell research has many critics. Papers in medical journals suggest not enough research has been conducted to determine whether the treatments are effective.